A Hidden Threat
by Meleba
Summary: A blight usually means death and suffering but there are people who have waited for this opportunity for decades. For these people the Archdemon holds the key to their domination over Thedas. Will our Wardens be able to stop the darkspawn horde before the even greater threat succeeds with their plan? - Slighty AU with OC, F!Cousland, M!Amell, F!Mahariel - rated T (for now)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_A/N - I haven't been writing fanfiction for very long and this will be the first story I release to the public. I love the Dragon Age games, lore and find some fanfictions of it to be just as interesting if not even more so than the game itself. This story, if I decide to run with it, will follow the Origins storyline and beyond with several changes to hopefully make the story 'fresh'. English is not my first language so apologies for any errors you will no doubt stumble upon, I will try and keep them to a minimum._

* * *

It was raining as usual in Ferelden this late autumn evening. Large raindrops silencing out any other sound as they hit everything in sight. The ones that made it to the ground helped make Ferelden as muddy as everyone said it was. In the middle of The Bannorn, where protection from the rain was rare and mud-free areas even more so, one could spot an extinguished campfire. The creator of the fire pit was sitting underneath the makeshift tent made from various materials. The man had long given up on trying to get the fire burning in this weather. The cold wasn't bothering him in the least. Ferelden was actually warm compared to his native country but not being able to keep the fire going meant that the rabbit he had caught was inedible. He sighed while holding out his water pouch, making sure the rain was at least of some use to him. The rain had slowed him down by quite a bit. It had been four days since he had left Highever and he would've been in a place called South Reach by now if this stupid rain hadn't made travelling near impossible through certain areas. He had been thinking of travelling with the army that had gathered in Highever who apparently were heading to Ostagar as well. But later deciding that he should lay as low as possible and travel alone for now. While he doubted that his pursuers had managed to track him to this country it was better to be alive and safe rather than dead and sorry.

Everything suddenly flashed around him and a moment later it sounded as if the earth was being split open all around him. Thunder striking the ground with regular intervals and while it was meant to be feared it had a strange soothing effect on the man. It was almost like the thunder was assuring him that no one would be travelling in these conditions as long as it kept striking the ground. That meant that no one would be hunting him tonight. This was the first time he had seen a thunderstorm. The Anderfels, his birthplace, had only snow and little else.

He sat there for a few minutes, just listening to the rain hitting the roof of his temporary home. Noticing that the rain wasn't as aggressive in trying to get to him as it had been as earlier. Looking up from the mud he saw that the rain was indeed retreating ever so slightly. Even the thunder was leaving him, he was going to miss that guardian. He figured now would be a good time as any to try and get the fire started again. Shifting position so that he could lean out of the 'tent' and reach the soon-to-be revived fire pit, a faint light in the distance caught his attention. While staring at the light he sat perfectly still in order to remain hidden. The light wasn't moving though which meant that it must be something stationary, like another fire pit.

"You're shitting me." The man mumbled. He was angry with himself for having been so close to other people without realising it. He had set up camp while the rain had been coming down hard which meant that the other party must have been there all this time. He focused his senses, trying to sense how many they were. The distance was too great and his blood shot warning signals throughout his body. He needed to get closer to make sure who they were. He grabbed his spear which had leaned on the lonely tree he had settled down next to. Rain was now lightly falling down around him, giving little protection from trained eyes and ears. He was silently praying to the nearest available god that they wouldn't be the people he feared they were. If so then him sneaking would be pointless as they would easily know he was approaching. He was now behind a rock big enough to hide him from the other camp. He was also close enough to find out how many they were without running the risk of being seen by using his eyes. He focused once again and this time he could tell their numbers. Three of them, one of who that didn't feel anything at all like the other two. He should be able to hear them from here but no conversations could be heard. Either they were all whispering to each other or they simply weren't talking at all. Wouldn't make much sense whispering though, who would eavesdrop out here? Well, except for himself of course.

"Hopefully we'll get a night free of rain tomorrow." A young male voice suddenly said from behind the rock. The hidden man tensed up. Had they noticed him and somehow read his thoughts? "We're also going to travel along The Imperial Highway soon, right? I would be happy to feel something other than mud beneath my feet for a while." It went silent again after that. The rain had almost completely stopped by now and the thunder was long gone. With a slight panic, he realised that getting back to his own camp unnoticed would be close to impossible. Looking up towards the stars, he guessed that there were still several hours left until sunrise. Then there was also no telling when they would actually move on. He decided that he had to check who these people were with his eyes. If they were the people chasing him then he would have to kill them. If they weren't he would have to pretend to be a harmless traveller and hope they would let him go back to his tent. Just as he was about sneak around the side of the big rock which had offered him the same amount of protection as the thunder earlier, another person spoke up.

"What's that over there?" A female voice this time. The man wondered if they had heard him just from his slightly standing up when he realised something. He quickly looked back and saw that his tent was now visible as the rain had stopped all together. Throwing several curses at himself in his head, he remained still as a statue so he could hear them if they began to move. "Was that there when we were setting up camp?"

"No." The last person to speak up was an older man by the sounds of it. "And I don't see anyone over there." A moment of silence and the man wondered if he should just jump them while he still had some sort of surprise attack to make use of. He decided against it since he didn't know what he was up against. They could be soldiers, archers or even mages for all he knew. Things went quiet and once again he closed his and focused, intending to find out if they were closer than before or if they had moved away. He suddenly realised where one of them had moved to and quickly rolled out of the way as an arrow hit the ground where he had crouched just a second earlier.

"Nice reactions, assassin." He quickly stood up and assumed a defensive stance as he looked up towards the archer on top of the rock. A woman with golden-brown that went down to her shoulders stood on top of the rock, already with another arrow aimed for him. On the right side of the rock an old man with slightly dark skin, black beard and a ponytail tying back his equally black hair showed himself. Armed with a sword and dagger but not looking as eager to fight as the young woman did. On the left side a young man in a robe with semi-long blond hair stepped out, holding a staff. Must be a mage then.

"Wait, Elissa. Don't kill him yet." The old man ordered the woman. While he was pleased that the old man was trying to calm the situation, he felt slightly offended that the old man believed the girl stood a chance against him if he got serious.

"He must be one of Howe's men!" The anger in the woman's voice was obvious for all to hear. Obviously this Howe had done something to her, or with her. But at least that proved they weren't after him. "We can't take any chances!" Elissa shouted. Well, it seems like they were after him now either way. He started planning on how to take them all on at the same time. They had the numbers and two ranged, it was going to be difficult.

"Listen to Duncan, I don't think this man is one of the Arl's men." The younger man also tried to calm the woman. And now he also knew the name of the old man. Elissa was still aiming for him though, not listening to her companions at all it seemed. He would have to dodge her next arrow and take out the mage quickly before the other two could intercept.

"You don't think he's one of the bad guys, Daylen? He was sneaking up on us with a weapon!" She had a good point. If someone came sneaking up towards his camp in the middle of the night he would kill them before any conversations could start. "It's obvious that Howe sent him after us to finish what he started!" He would have to find out who this Howe man was after this.

"Who are you? What's your name?" The old man asked him. He took a quick look towards the mage and saw that while he was ready for a fight he had not yet conjured any spells. He quickly glanced over the archer and saw that she was still ready to fire but was more stable now that her leader was speaking with her target. He turned towards the old man to answer him, making an attempt at ending this without a fight. As soon as he opened his mouth he felt someone's blood suddenly boiling with rage and determination and saw an arrow heading straight for him in the corner of his eye.

* * *

Elissa wasn't going to let the bastard get any words in. The man must be an assassin sent by Howe, he would have no other reason to be out here in the middle of nowhere. As the assassin had turned to answer Duncan she had let the arrow fly, aimed straight for his chest. But once again he dodged it. Almost like he knew exactly when she was going to let go of the string. Mumbling a curse to herself she went for another arrow when she saw him head straight for Daylen. He must have correctly guessed that Daylen was a mage and therefore saw him as the biggest threat. Daylen also had the least amount of armor of them all and the assassin was ridiculously quick on his feet. The assassin was within striking distance of the mage now and Elissa had just started pulling the bowstring, she wasn't going to take the shot in time. His spear got parried in the last second by Duncan's sword and Elissa breathed a sigh of relief.

"Elissa, hold your fire!" Duncan stood between the assassin and Daylen now, weapons ready for anything Howe's hound would throw at him. "We do not have to fight." Duncan told everyone, Elissa knew that they had to fight though. She couldn't risk Howe knowing where she was heading. For the third time she let the arrow fly, this time aiming for a leg in hopes that it would take the assassin by surprise. Frustrated to see that he once again had dodged her, she quickly went for another arrow. It seemed like the assassin was getting frustrated as well and abandoned the idea of going for Daylen and instead went for the only one that would go into melee with him, Duncan. Daylen took the opportunity to get some distance between him and the melee fighters. He was worthless when it came to offensive spells but his healing and warding spells were among the best. Duncan would have to keep him busy while supported by Daylen and then it was up to Elissa to finish the bastard. Duncan seemed to be pushed back quite quickly though, the reach of the spear not letting Duncan move in close with his dagger and was stuck dodging and parrying using his sword. As Elissa took aim for another shot she suddenly felt a pulse through the air and her hands started trembling like crazy. She heard Daylen suddenly screamed as he let go of his staff while dropping to his knees. Duncan seemed to get pushed back a lot more all of a sudden. Was this assassin a mage of some sort?

"Daylen! Focus!" She tried to get the mage back into the fight and told herself to do the same. Her hands became more steady after a few moments and she took another shot. Giving Duncan some room after forcing the assassin to avoid the arrow that was heading for his face. Duncan still refused to go on the offensive even though she had given him an opening. "Attack him, Duncan!" She yelled at the old man. He still refused to believe that this assassin was sent by Howe?

"He's not our enemy, Elissa!" Duncan yelled without taking his eyes on the assassin as they were standing just out of range of each other. Daylen had made it back up on his feet and seemed to be preparing something. The assassin suddenly charged forward, forcing Duncan to parry and sidestep him. The assassin then quickly lifted his spear straight up and Duncan's sword and dagger which had locked with the spear flew out of his hands. Elissa couldn't take a safe shot after Duncan's dodge and he was now unarmed. Panic struck her as she thought the battle was lost. There was no way she was going to be able to kill him without Duncan holding him off.

"Elissa! Now!" Daylen suddenly yelled as a strange pattern formed under Duncan and his opponent and they both froze. The assassin's spear just moments from impaling Duncan. Daylen had cast a glyph of paralysis and Elissa made sure to remember to thank him after the fight. She knew it wasn't going to hold for long and took a shoot she was sure was not going to hit her companion. The arrow borrowed itself in the assassin's left arm and as the paralysis ended, blood started pouring from it as Duncan took the moment to roll over to where his weapons were. The assassin now only had his right hand on the spear, hopefully his left too weak to get a good grip. With him unable to fight maybe they could get some information out of him before they killed him.

"The fight is over!" Duncan yelled to everyone. The assassin showed little pain on his face which worried Elissa. "Lay down your weapon." Duncan told the wounded man. Elissa was going for another arrow in the event the assassin would try anything.

"After all this? I think not." His accent made it clear he was no Fereldan and for the first time he showed anger instead of irritation or frustration. Elissa quickly went to nock the arrow but a sudden pain in her left arm made her drop her bow. The pain was piercing and once again she heard Daylen yell a curse and saw him clutch the same place as Elissa. Duncan had dropped his dagger in his left hand and seemed to be in pain as well. She couldn't understand what was happening, why were they all injured at the same place as she had shot the assassin? It must be some kind of blood magic. Duncan was now back to parrying as the assassin somehow had found the strength to still use his left arm. The rage was now obvious in his eyes and with every hit Duncan stumbled further and further back. Elissa felt useless not being able to do anything with her wounded arm and hoped that their mage companion would soon find the strength to help them fight back. Duncan's sudden grunt was followed by a splatter of blood that made her own blood freeze. Duncan had used his leather protected arm to block a slash from the assassin and grinned badly, falling backwards from being kicked in the midsection straight after the slash.

"Duncan!" Daylen yelled from his knees a couple of yards away, the pain from his arm still keeping him from doing much. Mages needed to be able to focus and that was not something Daylen could do right now. It also didn't help that they had been on the run for the last couple of days, he must be exhausted. Elissa thought it was all over as Duncan could no longer defend himself as the assassin had just gained more and more momentum. But no further attacks followed. Duncan was down on his knees and still held his sword in front of him, ready to block everythin thrown at him. But instead the assassin just stood there looking slightly lost and Elissa wondered what had happened.

"I should have realised you were a Warden earlier." His voice was no longer hungry for blood and instead he dropped his spear and made his way over to Duncan, offering him a hand to help him stand up. Seems like the fight was suddenly over for some reason. "As you said, we have no reason to fight." He said while helping Duncan back up on his feet. Elissa then noticed that the pain in her arm was gone without her noticing. She grabbed her bow but didn't go for an arrow this time, instead just narrowing her eyes towards the assassin. Daylen was standing up again, hands wrapped around his staff and looking like he was taking cover behind it as he made his way over to the other two.

"We did little to prevent the fight." Duncan said and cast a glare at Elissa which screamed 'We'll speak of this later'. "How did you realise we're Grey Wardens?"

"As far as I can tell you're the only Grey Warden out of the three of you. Unless those two are recruits?"

"You would be correct. But how do you know?" Duncan lifted an eyebrow. Daylen had made his way over and started to heal Duncan's wound. Elissa checked her arm in search of what had hurt so much only moments earlier. There was no wound or anything, what had just happened?

"Your blood is the same as the Warden's in The Anderfels. That country is crawling with them so this isn't the first time I've met one." If he's from there as well then that would explain his accent. Elissa jumped down from the rock, still not fully convinced that he wasn't sent by howe to hunt her down. But it seemed like he didn't want her dead tonight at least. "And Wardens usually only travel with other Wardens, I just guessed that those two were recruits who had yet to go through their joining."

"Can you taste blood or something?" Daylen asked, finished with healing Duncan and looking unsure if he should do the same with the other man.

"Can't you?" The man said with a smirk, Daylen probably realised how silly his question had been.

"I meant... What was that you did? It didn't feel like any kind of magic."

"That's because it isn't. It's a long story." He added as Daylen was about to start asking more questions. The mage had a habit of doing that, asking questions about everything and everyone.

"What's your name?" Duncan suddenly asked.

"Marcus." He said with a weird salute of some sorts that Elissa guessed was how they greeted each other up there in the north.

"Where are you heading and why? If you don't mind me asking." Duncan asked as he inspected Daylen's work, seemingly satisfied by the results. Elissa had to admit, that mage was really good at healing.

"Ostagar to hopefully join the Grey Wardens." Duncan seemed pleased, Daylen seemed speechless and Elissa wanted to object.

* * *

Daylen stood leaning against a wall in South Reach. Their group had arrived in this town earlier in the morning and it was now midday. They had decided to take a break but not stay the night as it would waste too much time. Duncan and Marcus were a couple of yards away speaking with a trader. The man they had picked up after fighting him in the middle of the night didn't even have a proper tent it had turned out. Marcus had assured them that Ferelden was much warmer than his home and as such he wasn't bothered by the cold during the night. They had to convince him that bugs of different kinds would eat him alive if he didn't something to shield him with. And now he and Duncan were buying one for him.

"I still don't trust him." Little miss sunshine was standing next to him. Gloomy as always.

"He could have ended your life as well as ours when we met him two days ago if he had wanted to. You still got it in your head that he's one of Howe's men?"

"Fergus is still alive out there somewhere, he must think that I'll lead him to my brother and then he'll kill us both." While Daylen felt sorry for what had happened to Elissa and her family that night in Highever, he very much doubted Marcus had anything to do with it. Marcus had even told them that he had arrived in Highever only five days ago and left the same day to start heading south. It had been later that night that Highever had been attacked so Marcus wouldn't even had been in the city during the siege. Unless the man was lying of course but Daylen doubted that. "And you've talked with him quite a bit, Daylen. You even mentioned to me that he isn't very talkative."

"When it comes to his past." Daylen corrected her. "He has no problems talking about anything else."

"And that's what makes me not trust him. What do we know about him?" She said as she turned towards the mage. "His name is Marcus, unless that's a lie. He's from The Anderfels, which is very vague. He wants to join the Wardens for reasons we don't know." Daylen couldn't deny what she was saying but the impression he had gotten from the man was that he was a nice enough person. He had told Daylen of his journey south to Ferelden and had proven to have a good sense of humor. And then there was the fact that Duncan trusted him, which should put him under the 'good guys' category by default. "And there's that weird thing he did, I bet he's a mage of some sorts."

"Have you even talked to him yet? Didn't Duncan tell you to apologise for attacking him?"

"No and yes." Daylen's sigh could probably be heard throughout the town.

"Then that settles it! Once we move out I'm going to make sure you get to know him and prove to you that he can be trusted." Elissa looked like she wanted to protest but Daylen wasn't going to let her. "We're all going to be Wardens soon and then you'll have to trust him with your life which will be so much easier if you trust him as a person." Elissa just looked at him, probably annoyed that he had not taken her side in this matter.

"Fine. But you won't leave me alone with him."

"Is it embarrassing to speak with him alone?" Daylen said with a smirk, jumping on the opportunity to tease his companion. Before she could answer he could hear Duncan and Marcus making their way back over towards them. Seems like the man in question had gotten his tent.

"If you're all ready we'll leave for Lothering now. We should reach the town by tomorrow afternoon if we're lucky."

"If we're lucky?" Daylen didn't like the sound of that. "What happens if we're unlucky?"

"There's a possibility that darkspawn scout parties might get drawn to me since I'm a Warden. We should be fine though." Daylen was sure that Duncan said it in a way that would worry the mage on purpose. 'Should be fine' and 'If we're lucky', that bastard... "You'll all meet darkspawn sooner or later anyway. I would actually prefer it if you met them sooner rather than later."

"I'm starting to wonder if you're a darkspawn spy sent to lead us right into a trap if you say it like that." The group started heading south and after a while Daylen started making subtle hand signals and gestures that he hoped would get Elissa to understand that her talk with their newest companion should be underway already. Elissa made uncomfortable faces and just ignored the mage. Daylen figured he would have to get the ball rolling. "Keep telling me about your very long walk, Marcus."

"Where were we last time?" Marcus answered, slightly surprised that their female Warden recruit were joining them for this storytelling.

"You had just left The Silent Plains. or as you called it, 'flat boring waste of space shithole'." A small snicker could be heard from Elissa, they were off to a good start.

"Ah right. After that was Nevarra. That wasn't much better to be perfectly honest. The only city I stopped by was Cumberland and everything before that were just forests and more forests. There was this huge bridge over Minanter River that was quite breathtaking though." Daylen felt a bit jealous of Marcus, being able to freely wander around the world. The Circle Tower had its charm and benefits from being able to learn about magic in a somewhat safe environment. It's just that he was still chained there, given so much potential with his magic and not allowed to reach that potential. "I was out of money by the time I made it to Cumberland. And I unless I wanted to walk around through Orlais I would have to get enough money for a boat. And I would have to get it fast."

"Why were you in a hurry to get the coin?" Elissa finally spoke to the man! And she had asked a good question as well. He gave her a thumbs up which went unnoticed by everyone. Marcus seemed slightly reluctant to answer.

"Well... There were two reasons. First being that I needed to get to Ostagar as quickly as possible, because of the blight threatening to consume us all and everything." He took a deep breath through his nose and seemed to be deep in thought about whatever he should continue or not. "The other reason isn't important enough to explain right now." And there he left them hanging again, Daylen could understand that people didn't want to share everything about their lives to other people they've only known for a few days. But he was getting so curious that he almost wished he was a blood mage so he could force out answers from the man.

"So what did you do to get enough money for hitching a ride on a boat?" He decided to let Marcus continue his story, maybe he would say too much once more and they would figure stuff out.

"Well. As I needed the coin as quick as possible I went to the nearest chanter's board to see what they had to offer. A group of four others were standing in front of it having a heated discussion about one of the quests up on the board. One of the more well-paying jobs had been to get rid of a nest of spiders that had decided to make one of the nearby mines their home. The group's leader, a woman named Ginnis, wanted to clear the mine of the vermin but her subordinates clearly wanted to avoid giant spiders at all cost." Daylen noticed that Elissa was listening with no attempts to hide the fact by now. "I walked up next to them and started browsing through the tasks and one of the men in her group mistook that as me listening in to their conversation. I tried to ignore him since I didn't want to get into any unnecessary fights and draw more attention to me. He wouldn't let it go though, perhaps he was trying to make up for him being branded a coward by their leader for being afraid of a couple of eight-legged critters."

"Well, if they're the same size as I ran into in the circle storage area a couple of weeks back, I can understand his fears."

"Anyway, he accused me of being a spy and tried to push me away. At this time my patience had run out and I side-stepped his push and threw him to the ground easily enough. His companions thought this was hilarious and he was shaking with anger. He rushed back up on his feet and unsheathed his sword and dared me to fight him. His leader just smiled and told everyone else to us go at it. I grabbed my spear and waited for him to attack. He was so easy to read that it only took a few moments before he was back on the ground, sword a couple of yards away after I had struck it out of his hand." Daylen wondered how easily it must have been since the man had even managed to take Duncan down. And Duncan was quite the capable fighter after what he saw in Highever. "Their leader just stared with a blank expression as I was holding the tip of my spear against the man's throat. Almost like she was looking at goods at the market. I don't think I have ever been as uncomfortable as I had been at that time."

"They didn't try to stop you?"

"No, I later learned that this group, The Winters as they are called, value gold over everything else and weaklings is of no profit to them. As I was saying, their leader didn't show any anger that I had one of her men pinned to the ground. After a few moments of silence, if you don't count the whimpering of the man on the ground, she offered me a place in The Winters." Before Daylen could ask Marcus continued. "I kindly said 'no thanks' so she instead asked if I wanted to join them temporarily for the spider killing. I decided that it was a good idea since the pay was good even if we were going to split it. The rest of the group still seemed reluctant to go but decided to stop complaining when the leader started saying that they were cowering faster than an Orlesian." His words trailed off as they noticed that Duncan had suddenly stopped from in front of them, staring up into the forest.

"What's wrong, Duncan?" Elissa asked. Looking like she was trying to find what Duncan was staring at but to no success.

"There's... something not far from here in the woods."

"Darkspawn?" Daylen asked, readying his staff, noticing that Marcus did the same with his spear and Elissa with her bow.

"I'm not sure... We'll have to go and find out." And with that, Duncan walked with determined steps into the woods. The other three looked at each other for merely a second before they went in after him.

* * *

Lyna awoke with a gasp, quickly checking her surroundings trying to figure out where she was but her eyes complained as they were still used to the dark. Everything was a blur and her mind was racing making it impossible to process any sounds that could be heard. It took a couple of moments and some serious rubbing of her eyes before she could see that she was in an aravel. She heard the distant sounds of people chatting and if she perked her ears she could hear halla in the distance. She must be back in camp then. Strands of light was entering the aravel wherever it could enter and judging by the color of the light, and the joyful cries of halla being fed, she guessed it was early afternoon. As she tried to stand up her whole body started to complain. By the creators, what had happened to her and Tamlen. She suddenly panicked, Tamlen was nowhere to be seen. Was he still in the ruins? She ignored her body screaming at her to calm down and went outside.

"Keeper!" She spotted Marethari as soon as she took a step outside. The elder wasn't very far away, sitting on a log together with Merrill. The keeper and her first turned their eyes towards Lyna as soon as they heard her.

"I did not expect you to awake so fast, da len."

"Awake from what, what happened to me? And what happened to Tamlen?" Lyna had interrupted before Marethari had been able to say anything more, she was desperate for answers to where her friend was.

"I'll explain everything, and I'll need need some answers as well. So please take a seat and don't strain your body further." Marethari looked at her with sad eyes and Lyna knew that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. Lyna weakly nodded and took a seat on a log on the opposite side from where the other two elves were sitting. "A group of Grey Wardens found you about three hours ago outside a cave. You've been unconscious ever since."

"They didn't bring Tamlen?" Lyna asked with a clear hint of irritation in her voice.

"They told me that you were the only elf there. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I... Me and Tamlen found some kind of mirror."

"A mirror in a cave?" Merrill asked. "What would a mirror be doing in a cave?"

"It was more like ruins. And I don't know if it was a mirror. It was... It's difficult to explain and I can't remember it very well."

"What kind of ruins?" Marethari suddenly asked. With her being a keeper she was of course interested in anything elven they would happen to come across. But Lyna felt that they were being more worried about some old object instead of being concerned about Tamlen.

"I think they were elven but it felt like something else added to that. I don't know enough about our history to be sure." Tamlen had voiced the same thoughts, while it was clear that those ruins were elven in the core they seemed to be influenced by something else. But she could even begin to guess what that may be. Marethari was sitting there quietly, deep in her own thoughts.

"We have to go there and take a look ourselves, Keeper." Merrill said while standing up. "If we go we can perhaps-"

"We just talked about this, Merrill. The clan needs to prepare for it's departure." Lyna was eyebrows shot up to her hairline. The clan was leaving all of a sudden?

"All the more reason we have to go and investigate this now! We don't know when or even if we'll ever come back!"

"The clan is leaving?" Lyna thought she was being kept in the dark here. When had they decided this and did everyone else know? Now that she looked around it did seem like everyone was busy with something.

"Yes, da len. But... Never mind, we'll speak more once the Wardens return." Marethari once again looked with those sad eyes right into her own, it made her scared.

"Then I'll go myself, Keeper."

"You don't know the locati-"

"But I do, I can show Merrill where it is." Lyna interrupted. If the clan was leaving then she needed to find Tamlen.

"I can't let you go anywhere in your condition." Marethari's tone made it clear that there would be no further discussion. With that, she stood up before grabbing her staff and told the two young elves. "You need the rest and you need to start preparing for our departure." With that she to start getting ready to leave as well. Just a few silent moments passed by before the two remaining elves sitting on the logs looked at each other, nodding towards one another and then left the camp as quickly and quietly as they could. Lyna making sure to grab a practice bow and quiver on their way, she would feel naked without it. They walked for less than an hour before Lyna had led them back to the entrance of the ruins. The very same place that she and Tamlen had entered only hours earlier.

"You were right." Merrill said as her fingers traced the stones forming the entrance. "They look and feel like the other old elven ruins we've come across. But they also seem to be hiding something... different within them." Lyna was more interested in the obvious tracks that led into the place. Three or four boot prints, must be the Wardens.

"We should hurry up and find Tamlen. He might be hurt and in need of help."

"And how are you, lethallan?" Lyna made a questioning look towards the other elf. "You seem a bit... off?" While Merrill was correct, she was not going to let some tiredness keep her from rescuing a friend.

"I'm fine, let's head inside." The look Merrill made showed that she didn't believe her one bit, but merely nodded and they went inside. Once they got inside they walked right into a chamber that had seen some heavy fighting only moments earlier by the look of things. Strange humanoid beasts of which the likes she had never seen before were all over the floor, cut and pierced in different ways.

"By the dread wolf... What has happened here?" Merrill sounded like she was more curious than scared. "Are these those darkspawn creatures The Keeper has told us about?"

"They seem to fit the description as far as I remember. Would make sense with the Wardens being here and all as well."

"So they even brought those tainted things into our precious place. We have to hurry before they destroy something irreplaceable." While Lyna could agree that finding lost bits of their history, she was slightly angry with Merrill for not caring about a fellow clanmate that might be close to death in these very ruins. As they went further into the ruins all that they faced were more dead darkspawn. Even some of the giant spiders that she and Tamlen had ended could still be seen with their legs up in the air. She was about to ask Merrill if she had figured out anything else about the ruins when she heard a strange sound. It was like a low, menacing growl which she had never heard before. "Did you hear that?" Merrill asked in a whisper while standing perfectly still, staff ready in her hands. "Grey Wardens don't make noises such as those, do they?" Lyna was about to tell her that she very much doubted it when a group of those creatures came around a corner, Lyna managed to count six of them.

"Did Marethari ever tell us how to kill these things?" Lyna said as she reached for an arrow.

"No. But I guess they die the same way as everything else." Merrill answered as Lyna could feel the surge of magic beside her. From the heat she could guess that the keeper's first was getting ready to cast a fireball at these darkspawn creatures. One of those things suddenly screamed out in, what Lyna believed, was a war cry of sorts. Then four of them charged the two elves. The remaining two standing back with their own bows and arrows. Lyna decided she would try to keep the charging darkspawn away from Merrill as long as possible and aimed the first arrow towards the leading enemy. Her arrow planted itself right between the creature's eyes and it fell to the ground. Straight after she dodged to the left and could hear two arrows flying past her. The three remaining darkspawn got stopped as a fireball exploded slightly in front of them, but none of them were harmed by it. She heard Merrill curse in elven and once again felt the surge of magic radiating from her companion. She shot down the next monsters without much trouble but at that time they were right on top of the elves. She tried to block a heavy swing from a rusty old sword but the bow just snapped in half. Cursing the bad quality of the practice bow she kicked the darkspawn into the other one. She then rolled away again, expecting another barrage of arrows but none came. Merrill finished casting some sort of force push spell and the two remaining darkspawn that had charged got pushed back down the corridor again. Lyna didn't know what to do without her bow. All she could hope for was to keep them off Merrill as she picked them off. But fighting in this narrow corridor as a mage was difficult and Lyna had nothing to block with. She knew she should have brought a dagger as well. As one of the sword-wielding darkspawn got back to it's feet it too let out a war cry. This one was cut short though since mid-scream, an arrow suddenly poked out of its forehead and it fell to the ground. Not bothering to be surprised at the situation, Lyna rushed forward and grabbed the dead darkspawn's sword and drove it into the one which had been pushed back by Merrill spell as it was trying to get up.

"By the creators..." She said softly as she let go off the sword. Up close like this she could see how ugly these creatures were. Teeth taking up the larger part of their face while still having some human features. She quickly remembered that there were two more of these but as she looked up all she saw was two humans walking towards her. A man with a spear and a woman with a bow, these must be the Wardens then. The two darkspawn archers lying dead behind them.

"I was certain I felt the presence of something other than darkspawn." The male one said as they approached. "I'm surprised you're up already." He said while looking at Lyna. "What are you two doing here?"

"That's what we should be asking you." Merrill answered with a bit of venom in her voice.

"Our leader, Duncan, said we needed to go back here and investigate these ruins once we got you back to your camp." The female told them, no doubt noticing the harsh tone Merrill had used against them. "When we got here it was filled with darkspawn so my guess is that something here is drawing them in." Lyna's thoughts immediately went to the mirror, that must be what these Wardens are searching for. Maybe they can help her find Tamlen if they find the mirror again.

"Have you found another elf down here?"

"We were told that you did not come here alone." The man answered and Lyna only now noticed that his dialect was not Fereldan. "But we haven't found anything other than darkspawn while clearing through these ruins." Lyna knew what they were hinting at.

"I'm sorry." The woman suddenly said. While Lyna couldn't hear any hint of lies in thei voices she still refused to give up on Tamlen. There was no way they had managed to search through the entire ruins, he still had to be here somewhere. "We need to go back to Duncan. You should come with us, more of these darkspawn might be here soon." Lyna wanted to see if the mirror would take them to Tamlen and she guessed that Merrill wanted to see the mirror just out of curiosity. While Lyna was the best tracker in her clan she could not for the life of her navigate ruins such as these. As such, she could not remember the way to the room with the mirror so they followed the two Wardens further into the ruins. After a couple of minutes they arrived in a large room and in the center between two more humans stood the mirror.

"Are you sure you should be moving around so soon?" The older one asked as soon as he noticed Lyna, why were everyone asking her that?

"She was healthy enough to take down a darkspawn or two." The female warden answered. Lyna wanted to correct her and say that she had three kills out there but decided against it. There were more important matters to tend to.

"You don't believe my friend is still alive?" She asked the older warden. He was obviously the leader, or Duncan as he was apparently named.

"I'm sorry. But with the taint flowing through his veins, there is no chance for him to still be alive." Lyna felt the rage building inside her, curse that darkspawn for breaking her weapon.

"You haven't even found him and yet you say he's dead?"

"You were... are close to dying even after your keepers healing and a tremendous resilience. Your friend Tamlen has gone unhealed for too long by now." What did he mean by that? Is she tainted as well? "From the look on your face I'm guessing the keeper has not yet told you of your condition. We'll speak more of it in camp." Lyna looked over towards Merrill and the elf just looked back at her with apologetic eyes. Then turned her head to focus on the mirror as Duncan did the same. "We need to destroy this and head back as fas-"

"What!?" Merrill shouted when hearing what they were planning to do. "You can't destroy it!"

"It's been tainted by the blight." Duncan calmly answered. "This is what tainted you and your friend." His eyes going back to Lyna.

"Even so, there must be some way to cleanse it!" Merrill argued.

"We do not have time to study it enough to find a possible way to fix it." Duncan said while unsheathing a sword, turning towards the mirror. "It's dangerous to everything and everyone one right now and we can't afford to leave here without destroying it first." Minutes later the mirror had been shattered and the group of four wardens together with one sad and one furious elf were on their way back to the dalish camp. The walk as silent as it possibly could be and before she knew it they were back at camp. Keeper Marethari standing by the entrance and she looked relieved and angry at the same time.

"I thought I told you to rest, da len?"

"And leave Tamlen out there to die?" Was she the only one that actually cared about Tamlen's well-being? "This Warden told us he's tain-"

"Tainted, yes. He mentioned that Tamlen probably had the same illness that's inside you right now. Which is why you needed to rest but instead you strain your body even more." Her expression softened a bit. "But I am glad to see that you're still here among the living." Lyna noticed how the keeper had talked about Tamlen in a past tense. That must mean that she believed Tamlen to be dead already.

"Keeper, they destroyed the mirror in the ruins!" Merrill told the keeper with a threatening glare towards the humans. But with a face such as Merrills, a glare did not have much of an effect.

"I'm guessing you had a reason to do so, Duncan?"

"Yes, keeper." The man said as he stepped forward. "The mirror had been tainted and was a threat to us all." Marethari looked the man in the eyes for a few moments.

"I trust your judgement, Duncan." Then she turned towards Merrill. "We can not risk our present in order to preserve our past. Please understand that." Merrill looked down into the ground, looking as if she was mentally digging a hole she could hide in. "Now please, go and prepare. We'll be leaving early tomorrow." Merrill had no choice but to obey stern voice.

"What will happen to me?" Lyna asked, although she could kind of guess the answer. If the wardens thought Tamlen was a lost cause then she probably was one as well.

"You will go with the Grey Wardens." Marethari answered with a tired and sad voice. She then looked back towards Duncan. "And you will become one of them." Lyna was shocked, not only was her clan throwing her out, they were even throwing her into a group of shemlens! Marethari must have noticed that she was about to loudly voice her complains and interrupted her before she got her chance. "The taint will kill you if you don't go with the Wardens, da len."

"I'm afraid your keeper is correct. The only cure for the taint is to become a Grey Warden. The taint hasn't gotten a deathly grip of you yet but it will have soon." Duncan added. Lyna stood in the middle of the group, everyone looking at her with sad looks which she hated. They treated her as if she was as fragile as a leaf. Though as she was looking into Marethari's eyes she saw that they were all speaking the truth. And if she was to be honest with herself. She did feel a bit feverish but making that known to others would only make her seem more delicate in their eyes. So she kept that to herself for now.

"Am I allowed to say my goodbyes at the very least?" She sighed, looking at the leader of the shemlens.

"Of course. We'll leave in an hour." Great, one hour to say goodbye to her whole life. She nodded and went off towards Ashalle's aravel. The woman who had acted as her mother after what had happened to Lyna's real parents. She would also have to say goodbye to everyone else she had lived with during her first 21 years in this world. She now realised that she might never have to chance to say goodbye to Tamlen. Her closest friend and the one who had been like a brother to her was missing and everyone believed him to be dead. Lyna knew that the keeper had no reason to lie to her and that Warden Duncan seemed to be speaking the truth when he said that he think that Tamlen is past saving. Tears was gathering in the corners of her eyes and a lump could be felt in her throat but she refused to cry. If she was leaving them then she was going to make sure they remembered her as she was before this whole event. Strong and proud and not someone who breaks down and starts crying when life was a bit harsh. If she was going to join these Wardens then she was going to make sure she left an impression on them that her clan would be proud of.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The five of them sat around a campfire, eating away on the last of their packed food and making small talk to fill in the gaps between the bites. Daylen looked around at each one of them and noticed what an odd little group they are. We have the Warden Commander of Ferelden, a noble's daughter who is on the run from another noble, a man from The Anderfels, a dalish elf who carries the taint and himself, apostate on the run from the circle and its Templars. He swallowed his last bit of cheese, reminding himself to make sure to get some more when they arrived in Lothering. Their newest companion had only said a few words to the rest of the group so far. But it was understandable considering what she had gone through.

"You haven't actually told us about the fighting at Ostagar. Are we winning?" Daylen asked Duncan while looking around to see if anyone else had any cheese left that he could steal.

"It's difficult to say, We've been victorious so far but we've yet to face the bulk of the horde." Duncan said as he finished his meal. "The archdemon has yet to show itself as well."

"Still, shouldn't we be happy that the battles we've fought so far have been in our favor?"

"I guess you're right." Duncan smiled towards the mage. "In these times we have to grasp what happiness we can find." With that he stood up. "Now if you all excuse me. I'll catch some sleep before my watch." They all bid him a good night and then Daylen decided it was story time again.

"So! Mines? Spiders? Mercenary group? What happened?" He was like a puppy begging for a treat as he asked Marcus to continue the story from earlier today. Marcus smiled and took a sip from the water pouch before continuing the story from earlier that day.

"As I said, I decided that joining them would be a good idea. So once we decided on how the reward would be split, we set off towards the mines. It only took an hour to get the place and the people in the group were nice enough now that I was one of them. Ginnis, while quite dominant, was friendly towards me as I was helping her make gold. They didn't ask many questions about where I was from or what I was doing in Cumberland and all they really talked about was what they would spend the money from the reward on. All of them had the same plan, whores and booze. Even Ginnis had the same plans.

"I though Ginnis was a woman?" Daylen asked.

"Yes?" Marcus just looked at Daylen like he was asking a really obvious and dumb question, which he was now that he thought about it. "Anyway, we got to the mine and hadn't even managed to take a step inside before a group of those spiders jumped us. One of the men let out the most amazing girlish scream I've ever heard as he fainted." Marcus said as he was laughing at the memory. "The rest of us decided to leave him outside as we entered the mine after dealing with the spiders. They were quite big though, reaching up to my knees. Ginnis didn't seem to be bothered at all and calmly walked into the mine. I was walking next to her and the other three seemed to like the idea of having the two of us between them and whatever else might attack us. After the spiders at the entrance we didn't see any more of them for several minutes. Plenty of web could be seen but no more eight-legged creatures and the mine wasn't supposed to be that big. We started to wonder if those at the entrance had been all of them. I could still feel their presence though so I didn't believe that was the case. We got to the last room in the mine and still hadn't found any more, so Ginnis decided that the job was done.

"This is the part where they all come skittering from behind you?" Elissa asked, still interested in the story it seems.

"You're not far off. We were using torches since it was impossible to see anything otherwise. And we had failed to notice just how high the ceiling was in the last room. Once we far enough into the room about ten of them dropped down from the ceiling. Killing one of the other men instantly as a huge one landed on top of him. And when I say huge I mean huge as cart. I still can't understand how it could fit in some of those tunnels." The size of the spider didn't seem like it was bothering him at all. "We were now down to one torch since I was using a spear and Ginnis was dual wielding daggers, why she refused to sheath one of them I'll never know. We tried to protect the last torch bearer but he panicked and started running off, only to be brought down by two of the hairy things. We had taken out six of them by then so we still had three 'tiny' ones and the big one left.

"The tiny ones being the same size as those by the entrance? Up to your knees that is?" Daylen asked, clearly uncomfortable as he learned that there are spiders as big as horses in the world. He made sure not to look too scared as he asked, after what had happened at the tower he did not care for those eight-legged monsters one bit. He wasn't going to let anyone else find out about his fears.

"Yup. Me and Ginnis had to rely on hearing alone to deal with them since we were now without light after both the torches had been extinguished. I had a general idea of where every living thing was so I stayed close to her and made sure they didn't gang up on one of us while alone. We took out another one each quite quickly and that's when the big one decided it was time to join the fight. It charged and knocked us away from each other and I could feel the last small going for my head as I hit the ground. I swung my spear around while still on the ground and heard a painful shriek and quickly stood up and finished it off with a quick thrust. At the same time I heard Ginnis curse and grunt in pain a couple of yards away. By this time the eyes had adjusted to the dark well enough to make out the big shape that was the spider. From Ginnis' curses and promises of making spider stew I knew she was underneath the beast. I quickly rushed over and took out one of its legs after two speedy swings." Elissa noticed that even their new elven companion was listening to the story by now, although she was trying really hard to hide that fact. "It switched target to me and charged me again, that thing was way to quick on its feet considering it's size. It bruised me pretty bad as I tumbled into a wooden cart of some sorts. It was going in for a bite so I threw myself over the cart and the thing's fangs just bit right through a part of my cower like it was nothing. I had lost my spear after that last charge and the spider was crunching down on the cart hard, trying to figure out if it had me in its fangs as well. I only really had one option left.

"You ran?" Daylen asked disappointed, because the story was at an end and that there was a big angry seven-legged spider still alive somewhere in Thedas.

"No, I punched it in its face." Neither Daylen or Elissa could hold back their laughts at how deadpanned Marcus had looked while saying that. Daylen even thought he could even hear a small snicker from the elf. "It didn't do much but as it was about to charge me again it suddenly fell to its side. Ginnis had managed to cut off another one of its legs so now it only had two left on its left side. I heard her shout 'catch' and I caught my spear flying towards me. As the spider was turning towards the new threat that had injured it, I drove the spear hard into the side of its skull. If it could focus long enough to finish someone off we would be spider food by now. But as the spear penetrated it's skull it started spasming like crazy and then fell to the floor where it remained silent and still. It took us a while to leave the mine as her foot was in quite a bad condition and we could barely see our own hands in front of us."

"Did you meet up with the one who had fainted at the entrance?" Daylen asked, having expected that man to have come to the rescue as they had fought the big one.

"No. He was not at the entrance once we got out and Ginnis said that she would kill him if someone else hadn't already beaten her to it. The walk back to Cumberland was quite uneventful and slow but we got the gold later that evening after the owner of the mine had sent someone to check if the mine was truly safe again. Ginnis asked once again if I didn't want to join The Winters but I respectfully declined. Found a boat that were leaving the next day and that ended my little adventure in Cumberland."

"What happened to Ginnis?" Elissa asked.

"We had a couple of drinks that evening after the mine and she left once we had split the reward. Think she mentioned something about Kirkwall." Marcus shrugged, clearly not that interested in what has happened to his temporary companion.

"No other great tale from your great travel? Or was that the last one?"

"Well, the boat ride was interesting considering the crew that was on it. But I'll save that for another night. For now I'll follow Duncan's idea and get some sleep before we move out again." The rest of the group made for their tents as well leaving Daylen by himself. He silently cursed himself for offering to take the first watch when he was as tired as he was. Oh well, maybe he could steal a slice of cheese or two from his sleeping companions.

* * *

Marcus was glad he wasn't travelling by himself anymore. It wasn't only because of the company, as nice as it was. It was because this far south the accents were so heavy he could hardly make out a word they said. There was no way some of these people were speaking common, no way. Daylen seemed to have no problems understanding the people here in Lothering though so it was up to him to trade and order the ale. Now the two of them were sitting in the local inn together with the two women in their group, resting after a day of travel. Duncan was speaking with the owner over by the bar about Ostagar, Marcus could only guess that the owner was discussing the same topic but he couldn't make out what the fat man was saying.

"I promise, that is common." Daylen said after taking a sip of his ale, having seen Marcus observing the conversation between the other two men.

"I don't believe you."

"I agree that it's a thick accent, but it still is common." Elissa added. She was trying to fool him as well was she? While happy that she had put their first meeting behind her, he was a bit unhappy to see her teaming up with Daylen in this matter.

"It doesn't sound like the common I was taught." Lyna joined in. Finally, an ally!

"Your people are taught common?" Daylen asked without realising what a stupid question it was. He did that a lot.

"What, you couldn't tell from all the elves speaking common back in the dalish camp?" She sneered at him. "Or the fact that I'm speaking common right now?"

"I'm sorry, it was a stupid question."

"It sure was." Marcus added, deciding to team up with the elf to bring the deaf people down.

"At least I know what common is." The mage smirked. The atmosphere in the group had improved by a great deal during the day. They all had a sense of humor and them all about to become Grey Wardens together didn't hurt. While happy to have found companions he got along with, Marcus felt a bit sad when thinking about what might happen to them down at Ostagar. Unlike them he was not kept in the dark about Grey Warden secrets so he knew what to expect. Even so, he had to make sure that the blight never made it past Ferelden. If they couldn't stop the archdemon from... He decided it wasn't worth worrying about tonight and took a heavy chug of his ale to force the worries out of him. "I would even say that your accent is more difficult to understand than his sometimes." Marcus decided to see if he could strangle someone with thoughts alone as he narrowed his eyes towards the mage.

"Speaking of that, where are you from?" Lyna asked him.

"The Anderfels." He answered as he remembered he had never told her that. Daylen didn't seem to be gasping for air so he abandoned the mind-strangling plan for now. He made a mental note to practice it as it would come in handy sooner or later if he was to continue travel with this mage.

"I don't even know where that is."

"Faaar to the north!" Daylen answered in his place. "Where they hunt bears for breakfast and sacrifice their youngest to their local snow god!" Marcus quickly waved that off as Lyna was looking at him with surprised eyes that was asking if it really was true.

"We do not sacrifice anyone to anything." Although in a way Daylen had not been far off.

"Wait, so you do hunt bears for breakfast?"

"Bear, deer, rabbit. Anything to put food on the table really. Is bear unusual down here when it comes to hunting?" He said as he asked the only other one here that had done some real hunting. Lyna nodded.

"We dalish hunt those things as well. But I don't think bear for breakfast is normal." Oh well, her loss.

"I understand that you ignore the circle mage in that question but what about me?" Elissa said, seemingly upset over being left out. "You don't think I can hunt?" Her head was slightly swaying from side to side. Was she tipsy already? I'll have you know that I've been out hunting with mother more times than you can count!" Duncan approached the group as Elissa was about to start a story of how she once managed to kill two rabbits in one shot.

"The innkeeper has told me that there have been reports of highwaymen on the roads between here and Ostagar as of late. We should have no problems if we stick to The Imperial Highway and make no attempt to hide our weapons. They won't approach an armed group such as ours."

"So we'll just keep letting them prey on the helpless refugees that are fleeing the south?" Elissa said in a loud tone, still tripping over some words. She really couldn't hold her liquor.

"We can not afford to go after anything other than the darkspawn at the moment. I'm sorry, I feel for the refugees but we can not spare the time to help them."

"What's the point in dealing with one of the problems if we're just going to let the people die to another?" While Marcus could understand Elissa's thoughts she was failing to see that darkspawn was a threat that needed to be dealt with first. Her outcry had caught the attention of the other people in the room, some of them looking nervous over the fact that a woman was shouting about death.

"If we don't stop the blight at Ostagar there will be neither refugees nor highwaymen left to save." Marcus said in a low tone and Elissa shifted her glare from Duncan to him.

"And if we ignore everything other than the darkspawn all we will be saving are the ones with innocent blood on their hands!"

"People can't expect help to arrive everytime they need it. In the end it's up to each and every pers-" Marcus was getting louder without realising it as Elissa refused to lower her volume.

"So weak people are to be left alone and die? It's good to know that if I take a hit from one of those darkspawn you won't lift as much as a finger to help me."

"You know that's not what I meant. People can cheat death in a great number of ways. Those refugees could for example travel in group or have started moving before the highwaymen saw the chance for some easy riches. That they have waited this long to flee north is their own damn fault."

"So where do you draw the line of who's worthy of saving and who's to be left to die?"

"I dont decide anything." Marcus sighed, this woman was being difficult. Why did a few refugees matter so much to her? "People who are not willing to fight should be smart enough to know how to avoid it. No one can shoulder the burden of protecting every single man, woman and child!"

"Being able to and wanting to are two completely different things!" With that Elissa stood up from her chair with such force that it fellt to the floor and walked with angry steps up the stairs to her and Lyna's room. Well, that had escalated quickly. Marcus simply looked at his empty mug with a irritated expression. That woman knew nothing of how the world looked if she was acting like that. If she thought she would be able to save every person they came across then she was mad. Duncan said nothing, looking like he was used to these sort of arguments. With a small nod to the remaining people at the table he went up to the room he had for himself. That left Marcus together with Lyna and Daylen and if he knew Daylen by now it wouldn't take long until he opened his mouth.

"And I thought you two were going to start getting along." And open his mouth he did.

"She's blind if she believes that this war can be won without any deaths. Every single man and woman from here to Ostagar has had plenty of chances to prepare themselves for what life can throw at you. If they can't deal with a couple of highwaymen then how is that our problem?"

"You're being a bit harsh on people you know nothing about." He really was taking her side this evening wasn't he?

"So you agree that we should just ignore the darkspawn so we can keep a couple of farmers away from the big bad bandits?"

"That's not what I mean..." Daylen said with a sigh. "I just don't see what's so bad about protecting those who need it."

"Many of the dalish believes that the flat-ears, city elves, are of no worth since they allow themselves to be weak." Lyna said, joining the discussion after looking uncertain what to do.

"You say that as if you don't share that view?" Daylen asked after setting down his now empty mug.

"Then I must've phrased it wrong, because I do. Elves that kneel before some authority that should have no hold over them have chosen that path by themselves. If someone strikes back against the bad guys then I will gladly lend them my bow. But if they just stand there and let it happen then I see no reason to help them." Marcus started to really like this elf. Even though she had been cut off from most of the outside world she was nowhere near as blind as the other woman who had grown up in the middle of it.

"Well, I can see that you two will be revered as saviours of the weak soon enough." Daylen said in a joking way before he stood up. "I'll retire now as well, another long day of walking tommorow! Joy!" And then they were two left sitting by the table in the dark room that was only being lit up by a fireplace in one of the corners. The patrons in the room was still eyeing the odd duo, a man from The Anderfels and a dalish elf. Two beings that none of them had ever seen before.

"I take it you were raised in a similar way to me in the belief that people need to look after themselves?" The woman asked him.

"So it would seem. But I'm not some heartless bastard that would just walk away if I saw someone beating someone else up in the middle of the street." Looking down into the empty mug and wondering if piss was the main ingredient. "But I was taught that in the end it's you and you alone that makes the choice between life and death."

"Then why, if you don't mind me asking, are you running towards one of the most deadly places on Thedas if you value life so much?"

"Several reasons." He looked out one of the windows, trying to figure out what time it was. "But while I was taught that life is the most valuable thing you possess, you can never value it properly unless you flirt with death every now and then." The elf seemed deep in thought for a few moments.

"So... The closer you are to death the more you understand how precious life is?"

"You can say that, yes." The elf chuckled lightly at that.

"I can not imagine what kind of upbringing you had if the people that took care of you wanted you to accept danger with open arms." He noticed how she had avoided the word 'parents'. "Well, if I make it to Ostagar I think I'll try and see this experience from your perspective. That which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger." He smiled towards the elf and she returned it.

"I have no doubts that you'll make it." He said and he meant it. This woman had the willpower and strength to get through the joining of that he had no doubt. They sat in silence for a moment before they went up to their respective room.

* * *

If what Duncan said was correct then they would see the tall towers of Ostagar any minute now. He'd told them that even though Ostagar had long-lived past its glory days it was still quite the sight. The shield that had kept the uncultured barbarians away from the civilised Tevinter Emporium more than a thousand years ago. Although Lyna like all the other elves had no love for Tevinter she could at least appreciate majestic buildings, the Tevinters were long gone anyway. She once again checked to see if any white spires would show themselves as the dense forest lightened up just a bit around them but didn't see any color other than green. They were still on The Imperial Highway and the group had been clearly divided in two since they had left Lothering. Elissa and Marcus still refused to talk with each other and it had ended with Lyna walking with the woman and Daylen walking with the man. Duncan was as usual completely neutral in his party's infighting. Neither she or Daylen thought that one side was more correct than the other and had flipped a coin to see who would walk with who. Lyna had surprised herself at how quickly she had managed to get along with her companions. She had never shared her clanmates hatred towards the humans to their extent but she had never been the biggest fan of the humans either. But these ones that she was travelling with was difficult to stay mad at. Elissa was a friendly girl through and through, Marcus was similar to her in various ways and Daylen had a sort of humor which made it impossible to hate him. And then there was Duncan who she at first had hated for dragging her away from her clan but as time passed by she realised he wanted only for her to survive. She could feel the taint getting a stronger hold over her and was glad that she had followed the old Warden.

"We should be able to spot Ostagar any minute now if I'm correct." Elissa said, scanning the treetops for any white spires. "But I didn't think you would be looking forward to this as much as you're are?" She had obviously noticed Lyna doing the same.

"The sooner we get to Ostagar the sooner I know that I won't die from the taint." Lyna smirked at the other woman, quickly continuing as the other woman was about to start apologising. "I'm just kidding. The biggest building I've ever seen was a chantry back when my clan passed one of your villages. I hope I'll be as fascinated by these ruins as I was back then by the size of it."

"I think Ostagar will be a bit grander than a simple chantry." Elissa said. A sudden familiar hearty laugh from Daylen took the focus away from the treetops towards the the two men walking in the front instead. Lyna noticed Elissa's sneer.

"When will you two be able to stand each others presence again?" Lyna decided to try and break up this fight that had been going on since they left Lothering two days ago. This would be her seventh attempt.

"Once he stops seeing everyone weaker than him as cattle waiting to be slaughtered."

"He's not as heartless as you believe, Elissa."

"And how do you know that? That story he told us about the spiders? He didn't seem at all bothered that three others, possibly four, had died right next to him. People that were supposed to have been his companions." Elissa looked away from the source of her anger. "I'm not willing to get along with someone who feel no compassion for anyone or anything." Elissa just shook her head. "I no longer think that Howe is the one who sent him but his reasons for being here are still unknown to us all. I don't trust him one bit." Well, at least Lyna tried. Daylen had told her that they would probably see eye to eye again once they all were proper Wardens. "Do you trust him?" Elissa suddenly asked the elf. A question she couldn't answer immediately.

"I think I do, yes." She answered to which the human looked slightly betrayed and disappointed. It didn't last long since they could now see Ostagar and Lyna lost her breath. Say what you would about humans, they knew how to build structures that almost reached the stars. The tallest tower stretched so far into the sky that Lyna was almost having trouble seeing the top. She couldn't wait to explore the rest of the place, feeling confident that she wouldn't get lost as long as she didn't enter any of the ruins. As their group approached the main gates a tall human in a golden armor with a big smile was walking towards them. That armor would do more harm than good in a battle as it would act as a beacon to the enemy. Lyna guessed that he must be one of the more important humans.

"I was starting to think you would miss all the fun, Duncan!"

"King Cailan?" Duncan was surprised to say the least, an expression Lyna had yet to see in the man. Duncan gave a deep bow, as did Elissa and Daylen. Lyna had no intention to bowing before a human king just yet and Marcus choosing to do the same, his king or queen was obviously back in The Anderfels. "I didn't expect a-"

"Royal welcome?" She couldn't tell if this king was being smug or genuinely happy to see the old Warden. "My scouts told me you were approaching with some new recruits, I take it these are the people in question?" He asked while checking out the group.

"Yes. Allow me to do the introductions, your majesty." Duncan turned towards Daylen first. "This is Daylen Amell, mage of the circle of Ferelden." Daylen looked like he was about to say something but the king intercepted.

"Good to meet you, we can never have enough of your kind against these darkspawn. I hope your spells will win us many future battles!" Daylen just stared at the king, not sure how to respond. Without blinking, Duncan continued.

"And this is Marcus... from The Anderfels." Lyna noticed Duncan's slight hesitation as none of them knew the man's last name. Lyna giggled slightly at the situation. Marcus was, just as Daylen, about to say something before the king started speaking again.

"Oh? I've only met a few diplomats from your country so far but I'm intrigued to learn more about your people. I hope you'll show some of your country's legendary fighting skills to the battlefield so we can triumph over the darkspawn." He smiled towards Marcus who looked just as stunned as Daylen had. This king had some really high expectations of the Wardens.

"And this is Lyna Mahariel." And now it was her turn. How would he put her on a pedestal?

"That's some interesting tattoos you have there, friend. From which alienage are you from, if I may ask?" She wondered what the punishment for punching a king in the face would be. Maybe being a Grey Warden would provide immunity to that? But as usual, before anyone else could speak the king continued. "Hold on, I think i know this one." He said as he was looking at Elissa. "Yes. You are Bryce's daughter, is that correct?"

"Yes." Elissa said with a slightly angry tone. Was she mad over the king's ignorance towards the elves? Lyna felt glad that her companion had her back in this. "Elissa Cousland. We've met a couple of times before when my family visited Denerim." King still had the same smile on his face as he had when he came and greeted them. It was getting annoying.

"Your brother arrived a couple of days ago but we're still expecting your father. Will he be arriving soon?" Elissa looked even more mad now. Part of Lyna was glad that the noble was now focusing her anger towards someone outside their group. The other part was upset with the king for bringing up her father. Elissa had vaguely told Lyna what had happened without going into details and now the king forced the subject in front of several other people. A subject that Elissa was in no way ready to talk about.

"I'm guessing news travel slow these days." She said while glaring into nothing choosing not to risk angering the man who held the most power in this country. Lyna doubted much could anger the king though.

"What news? Duncan, what is it that I don't know?" He asked Duncan.

"Bryce and Eleanor Cousland are dead, your majesty. Arl Howe has proven to be a traitor as he attacked Castle Cousland while it was undefended, aiming to kill everyone in it. Had he succe-"

"I can scarcely believe it!" The king suddenly erupted. "We are fighting against a common foe and he goes and does something like this?" He turned back towards Elissa. "I promise you, my lady. Once our business with the darkspawn is dealt with I will turn the army north and bring justice to Arl Howe." Elissa silently nodded, still upset. "I'm afraid your brother is our scouting and will not return for another few days." This time it was Elissa's turn to interupt.

"I'm not looking forward to telling him the news, your majesty. But I am glad to hear that he's alive at least." The king gave her a nod and then turned back to Duncan.

"Well, these were not the kind of news I was expecting or hoping for coming out here to greet you. Now if you'll excuse me I need to return before Logain sends out a search party." He took one last look towards the group of Warden recruits. "I'll speak to all of you some other time. For now, enjoy your stay at Ostagar." And with that he walked back into the camp.

* * *

King Cailan was as ignorant as always, living in his own little dream world thinking of nothing but glorious battles and glorious honor and other glorious things. Elissa knew that he meant well and strived to be a good leader but he was almost as much of a child as Oren had been. She had been forced to bring up what had happened at Highever and it ripped open wounds she was trying to heal in her own pace. She was glad to hear that Fergus was still alive but was not looking forward to their next meeting, considering what she would have to tell him. The group of Warden and recruits were walking over some big old bridge which looked to crumble any minute now. They were heading towards the main camp and the group was as silent as it had been when they had just left Lothering. She didn't know if she should focus her irritation and anger towards the king or the heartless companion Duncan had for some reason let join their group. She chose the closest target and was surprised to see the man in question looking at her with no effort to hide it.

"What is it? Glad to hear that more useless people have left our world after they had been too weak to defend themselves?" She asked as sarcastically as she could. She had not told Marcus what had happened and after their fight in Lothering she was planning to never let him know. But now that stupid king had gone and forced her to reveal it all.

"No." Marcus said with no hint of anger in his voice. He looked away from her and seemed deep in thought for a moment before he continued. "But I now understand your anger towards what I said in Lothering. I should've chosen my words more carefully and been more respectful, I'm sorry." Elissa stopped in the middle of the bridge, stunned by what he had said. Lyna and Daylen seemed just as surprised as they stopped next to her and only Marcus and Duncan kept walking.

"Well that was unexpected." Daylen said to break the awkward silence. "Guess you only got the king to be angry with now?" And trust the mage to try and find humor in everything that's happening.

"Until he tells us what he's doing here I'm not going to put my trust in him." The things he had said in Lothering made it sound like he cared very little about anyone other than himself. If so then why would he be risking his life in a foreign country fighting darkspawn? There were too many question marks around Marcus for her to see him in a bright light at the moment.

"I'm not sure he's going to trust us with his story unless we put a bit of trust in him." Lyna said as they started walking again.

"I think it'll all work out in the end, my dear elf. Those two were fighting side by side with no problems when we were searching for that mirror in those ruins. With deadly efficiently I might add." Elissa wasn't paying much attention to what they were saying as she heard mabbari's barking in the distance. Although she had wanted to avoid it her mind wandered back to that night in Highever. All the people she had known her whole life were nothing but cold corpses now. Father, Mother, Oriana, Oren, Nan, Ser Gilmore, Aldous, Mother Mallol. The list of people who she was going to avenge was so long. Howe would be able to create a similar list once Elissa was done. "Oh? Did Marcus make new friends already?" She followed Daylen's eyes to where Marcus was standing and talking with another man and woman. He seemed to thank them as they moved on and the warden recruits grouped up once again.

"Where's Duncan?" Lyna asked.

"He said something about a meeting with some of the other Wardens. Told me that we should gather up the remaining two recruits and find some Warden named Alistair and then meet up with Duncan at the western gate in an hour."

"And where do we find these people?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Marcus said with a smile. "Duncan seemed to be in quite a hurry. Those two I just spoke with had no idea who this Alistair guy even is." Elissa looked towards the people Marcus had spoken to. Their armor was in poor quality and was obviously in the lower ranks of the army. She thought it would be obvious that people in the army had little to no knowledge about Grey Warden matters.

"Can we not just walk around a shout his name?" Daylen asked, earning a look from the rest of the group. "Or we could just ask some more people and see if they know where he is." They all agreed to that last suggestion and started walking around the camp together. As Daylen was asking one of the blacksmiths about Alistair's whereabouts, Elissa felt a weird and uncomfortable stare on her. She looked around and saw a man leaning towards a tree making clearly checking her out. She gave him one of her best glares but he simply ignored it and started walking towards the group.

"Well, two of you are certainly what I was hoping for."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elissa made sure to keep the glare strong, hoping to break him eventually.

"When I heard that more people were joining the Wardens other than me and Ser Baldy I was hoping that there would be at least one beautiful lass among them." He looked at Elissa and Lyna with those playful eyes again. "And it looks like I got two."

"_You_ got two?" Lyna said, now with the same glare that Elissa was keeping up. Daylen went between the two parties, having finished his conversation with the smith.

"So you are one of the other recruits?" The mage said trying to calm the situation.

"Aye. The name's Daveth. Where you wondering where Alistair was hiding?" The man stretched out a hand towards Daylen. Elissa sure as hell wasn't going to shake it, maker knows where it's been.

"Daylen. These people here are Elissa, Lyna and Marcus. And yes, we are looking for this Alistair fellow."

"Saw him heading towards that broken tower over there earlier." Daveth said pointing towards one of the many tower ruins. "He did not look happy."

"Okay? Anyway, Duncan told us to meet up at the western gate in about 30 minutes. Do you know where that Ser Baldy is?" Daveth seemed to enjoy the humor of Daylen, nodding at his question.

"Aye, I'll go collect him and meet you guys at the gates later." With that he was off the direction he had come from, Elissa and Lyna still glaring at him.

"Well, he seemed like a friendly sod." And now those glares shifted towards Daylen instead. "What?"

"I'm not looking forward to staying in the same camp as that man." Lyna said as she started following Marcus who was already on his way towards Alistair's presumed location.

"Neither am I..." Elissa said with a low growl as she and the mage fell in behind Lyna.

"I feel so special, so far I'm the only male recruit you tolerate." Daylen said with a smirk.

"Barely."

"I'll behave so I can keep that position."

"Pff, I'll believe that when I see it." Once there at the ruins they saw a man in splintmail talking with a mage. She noticed that Daylen was trying to hide behind Marcus as best he could as he had done whenever they were close to another mage in the camp. She guessed it had something to with him leaving the circle the way he had. Daylen had told their group a couple of days ago that he had not left on the best of terms. Though this mage here paid little to no attention to the group who were waiting for the heated discussion to end.

"What are they going on about?" Daylen whispered to Marcus who had heard the most of the argument. The man simply shrugged.

"Something about a note and a child named 'the grumpy one'."

"You sure you didn't misheard what they said? Maybe they were speaking wi-"

"I can understand their accents." Marucs interupted. "Anyway, I'm guessing the blonde one is Alistair."

"How can you tell?" Lyna asked.

"I can sense that he's a Warden and I think that Duncan would've mentioned something if this Alistair was a mage." With that the mage threw up his arms in the air and yelled something about a revered mother and telling the group of recruits to get out of his way. She also shot a glare as he walked off after he had muttered 'fools all of you'.

"You know... One good thing about the blight is how it brings people together." The man in splintmail walked up to them with a voice full of sarcasm. Elissa thought back to Highever again even as she tried not to. She reminded herself to focus on the task at hand, Howe will get what's coming for him sooner or later.

"I know exactly what you mean." Daylen said with an equally sarcastic tone, no longer hiding behind Marcus now that the mage was gone.

"It's like a great big party!" The other man continued. "If only we could look past our differences with the darkspawn, then we could invite them as well."

"Kind of difficult to look past our differences when they would want our flesh as snacks for that party." Seems like Daylen got along with this man well enough. Then again, Daylen got along with everyone he met.

"You're right, I didn't plan this through very well. I'm gonna have to take back their invitations. But ignoring the that for now, who are you people? I don't recall seeing anyone of you in camp before now?"

"That's because we just got here. Is your name Alistair by chance?

"That's me. Who are you guys?" A slight frown could be seen on his face. "Please tell me that you're not from the chantry or circle."

"You have something against dresses?" Elissa asked to which Daylen started trying to explain how the correct term was 'robe' but Alistair continued.

"No no no. Their clothing of choice looks very comfortable. It's just that there's usually a lot of yelling involved when I'm dealing with either party. Oh, wait a minute. you guys must be the new recruits that Duncan brought if you're looking for me."

"That we are." Marcus answered since Daylen was still trying to explain how robes were very masculine and should not be compared to dresses in any way. "Duncan told us to find you and then head to the western gate."

"Right, then proper introductions are in order." He straightened out a bit. "I'm Alistair and I'll be taking you guys through your joining." The group introduced themselves and with Alistair leading the way they started making their way towards the meeting place. They made some small talk on the way there in which Alistair shortly explained that he had been a templar before becoming a Warden. Daylen didn't seem to mind all that much which Elissa found strange until she remembered this was Daylen. He could probably get along with the darkspawn if they capable of speech. Once at the gates they saw Duncan already waiting for them together with that pig Daveth and the last Warden recruit whose real name must be something other than 'Ser Baldy'.

"What's this I hear about you winding up mages, Alistair?" Wow, news seemed to travel really fast in this camp. If news spread this quickly here then how come the news of what happened in Highever had not reached the king yet? Howe must have intercepted any messenger that tried to get word to the rest of Ferelden.

"The revered mother made me do it." Duncan simply made a slight sigh at Alistair's immature answer.

"Could you tell us about this joining now?" Lyna asked, seeming to want things to speed up. Elissa couldn't blame her. She wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible so she could begin her quest for revenge. She also wanted Fergus to return to camp soon so he could be told what that treacherous bastard Howe had done.

"Soon. First we need you recruits to gather a vial of darkspawn blood each for the jo-"

"So we're going to head out into the wilds?." Ser Baldy interupted. That name had really stuck by now, She made a mental note to learn his real name.

"I don't see any darkspawn in the camp so yes, I would guess we're heading out." Daveth answered with a smug face.

"And, while not needed for the joining, I would like you to go to ruins that I've marked on this map and collect the ancient treaties that should be there." He said as he handed said map to Alistair.

"_Should_ be there?"

"Grey Wardens haven't been here for centuries. Even though the chances are slim that the scrolls are still there we still have to go make sure."

"Right! Blood and scrolls. If we hurry we can be back before all the food's gone." Alistairs said as he folded the map and put it in one of his pockets. The Warden and the six recruits then walked out the camp and into the wilds.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_A/N - Just wanted to thank the few people who are following this story. I'm having a hard time writing this part since I'm quite forced to follow the same story as the game. It'll be a lot more interesting later on when I stray from the path the game gave us, I promise. Also just thought that I would apologise to anyone who read chapter 2 before now. The last part of that chapter was pre-edit for some reason so there were a lot more errors than are to be expected from my writing. Also a special thanks to 'Gufetto', your reviews are much appreciated._

* * *

Lyna was happy to feel the grass under her feet again. The last few days they had been on walking on nothing but hard cold stone and there was none of that here out in the wilds. Most of her companions didn't agree though. Daylen was cursing about the uneven ground. Ser Jory, also known as Ser Baldy is would seem, couldn't stop talking about how this errand was stupid and how he had already proven his worth. Daveth was somewhat calm but had started complaining about Ser Jory's complaining, which created a never-ending spiral. Alistair was somewhat calm but seemed to be on the lookout for darkspawn as he wasn't really paying attention to what was happening in the group. Marcus and Elissa's fight had gained more fuel after the group had come across a wounded soldier earlier. Once they had patched up the soldier enough so that he would be able to get back to the camp those two had somehow managed to get into another argument which was still ongoing.

"At least they're speaking to each other this time." Daylen had walked up to her side and had a smirk on his face as he was looking towards the two arch enemies.

"Almost miss when they were quietly hating each other. I hope we come across some darkspawn soon so they can vent their anger towards something else." Lyna knew that was a good idea since it had worked so well for the dalish. If two hunters were fighting they got sent out and were told not to return until they both brought back something. If Marcus and Elissa got to work as a team against the darkspawn then maybe they would see each other in a better light. They had been on better terms when Lyna first met them at least.

"Are they always like this?" Ser Jory suddenly asked as he and Daveth had joined Lyna and Daylen. Seems like they had put their discussion on hold for now since this seemed much more interesting.

"Well, they have been at each others throats for the last few days but this is more vocal than befo- Damn it!" Daylen said as he set fire to a branch that had smacked him in the face. "I never want to go into any kind of forest again."

"So the lass and the lad aren't knocking boots or anything?" Daveth asked as he looked over to the two people in question. Lyna had never heard that expression before.

"They haven't engaged in any fist fight yet if that's what you're asking?" Daylen's hand was trying to hide his giggles but was failing miserably. What had she missed?

"No, I mean... Marcus hasn't made any donation to Elissa's chantry box?" Lyna was still clueless, what's a 'chantry box'? Daylen seemed to have a harder time containing his giggles.

"What are you trying to ask?" She said in a harsh tone, she felt like she was being used for a laugh and she didn't like it.

"Sheathed his sword in her scabbard? Or maybe put an arrow in her quiver would make more sense with you being dalish and all." Lyna finally understood what this man was hinting at and Daylen was now laughing out loud. She narrowed her eyes at the men and decided to ignore them. Seems like Marcus and Elissa had not noticed what was being said behind them as they were still arguing.

"They have most certainly not." Daylen finally answered while wiping tears away. "Not yet anyway." He added with a smirk.

"So the lass is fair game for now at least?" Daveth asked, Daylen just shook his head.

"From the short time I've known her I would say she's nowhere near 'fair game'. And if you bring anything like that up to her with her current mood." He paused for dramatic effect. "You won't have any weapon left afterwards for other 'fair games'." Daveth just laughed and nodded to show he understood. And just as Ser Jory started talking about how disrespectful they were being, Alistair suddenly shouted out to the party behind him.

"Darkspawn ahead!" Lyna was slightly surprise how everyone could switch into battle mode as quickly as they did. Alistair brought up his shield and deflected a couple of arrows that were heading for him. He then charged forward with Marcus and Ser Jory and met the darkspawn with swords and axes head on. Lyna, Daveth and Elissa took down the ranged enemies with little to no effort as Daylen was casting shields and wards wherever possible. Lyna was glad that the darkspawn taint had not yet made her completely useless as she watched one of her arrows firmly plant itself between the eyes on one of those creatures. A sound from the left caught her sensitive elven ears and she yelled at her ranged companions to fire in the same direction as she. As they unleashed a barrage of arrows into the thick nest of bushes to their left they were met with the satisfying sounds of darkspawn dying. Maybe satisfying was the wrong word with the unnatural way they shrieked as they died. The ones at the front lines were standing above the corpses of several darkspawn, they had dealt with their foes just as quick and easy as the others in the group had. Marcus and Ser Jory were already preparing their vials while Alistair stood guard. The other recruits made their way over to the darkspawn corpses to get their own vials. Lyna noticed that out of all of them Ser Jory seemed to be the only one shaken over what they had just faced. And she also noticed that Marcus was looking at her with a somewhat worried expression. Did he know about how the taint was getting stronger? Then he switched focus from her to Elissa, were they gonna start fighting again so soon?

"Feeling a bit shaky, Elissa? You missed me by a good two inches at the start of that fight." And here we go again, Lyna thought.

"Believe me when I say that I was tempted to put an arrow through your head, Marcus. But unlike you, I value life no matter how weak that individual is."

"Must've been tough for you to kill these darkspawn then." He said while kicking one of the corpses over to it's back. "And no villagers nearby to rescue, where did you find the motivation to kill them?"

"And no helpless villagers nearby for you to use as human shields." Elissa retorted as Daylen walked up to Lyna as they had finished gathering the blood.

"They would get along once they fought together?" He whispered with a smirk. Lyna simply shrugged.

"It worked with hot-headed hunters in my clan, maybe these two are just more childish." She whispered back.

"Okay! Good teamwork there! It feels like the group has become tight as a family already!" Alistair said with obvious sarcasm, earning him a glare from both Marcus and Elissa. "Anyway, we still have the scrolls to find and I really wanna be back before dinner is gone." The two reluctantly obeyed and follow Alistair. This time it was more quiet as Ser Jory was at Marcus' side asking questions about his fighting style from what Lyna could hear. Elissa in the meantime was now walking with the elf.

"Do me a favor and don't warn him of any traps that you might spot." Elissa said in a tone low enough so that Marcus wouldn't hear.

"Not sure if I can notice any traps in my condition if I'm perfectly honest." She would usually never admit this weakness to anyone but Lyna decided that she had to tell someone that the taint was getting stronger in her. She wasn't sure what happens to those who fall to the taint but she guessed it had something to do with becoming a darkspawn. She wondered what had happened to Tamlen, had he become one of those monsters?

"Are you okay?" Elissa asked with caring eyes.

"I'm still well enough to put use my bow so I can't complain."

"Hmm." She still looked worried for a moment but that got replaced by a friendly grin. "Don't let Marcus know that the taint it getting stronger. He would probably see you as the weak link and remove you."

"Actually, I have a feeling he has already noticed." Lyna said as she heard Daylen walk up beside them and started talking about burning down the forest as it would make finding the ruins so much easier. They kept walking for about an hour but stopping now and then for the occasial darkspawn slaughter. Lyna was surprised at how easily they defeated their enemies, which Alistair also commented on. And that was with how Marcus and Elissa was behaving and herself feeling somewhat weak from the taint. They finally made it to the tower ruins and spread out searching for treaties. It was not really a tower anymore so there wasn't much searching needed before they had covered it all. They met back up after a couple of minutes with no one successfull in finding anything.

"What do we do now? There are no treaties here." Ser Jory asked Alistair.

"Not sure, I was never told of a plan B."

"I got a plan B." Daveth said turning all eyes towards him. "Walk back with haste towards the camp before the chasind gets us."

"Chasind?" Marcus asked as he was staring towards one of the nearby walls.

"Barbarians. Likes to kidnap you and feast on your flesh, they do." Daveth answered as looked around quite nervously. Had he noticed something? Lyna thought she felt like something or someone had followed them but that feeling had been with her for the last hour or so. It must simply be the taint making her paranoid.

"So they mostly attack in larger groups?" Marcus asked Daveth who seemed to know more than everyone else when it came to the chasind. The other man nodded and Marcus turned his eyes back to the wall he had stared at and said in a loud voice. "Should we take your presence as a threat or simple curiosity?" Everyone else was now staring at that wall as a black haired human female rounded the corner of the wall. She had a amused smile on her lips and was not frightened in the least.

"Let me instead ask why a group of Wardens venture so far into these wilds of mine. Is _that_ a threat or are you simply curious?" No one had brought out their weapons yet but there was tension in the air.

"We asked first." Alistair said as everyone present turned to him after that childish answer. "This tower belongs to the Grey Wardens and we have need for the documents that were stolen from this place." The amused smile on the woman was gone.

"I would hardly call this piece of rubble a tower and you seem to be under the belief that it was I that stole your precious documents." Daveth was muttering something to Marcus and Ser Jory about the woman being a witch and turning them into toads if they weren't careful. Seemed like the stranger didn't hear what was being said or maybe she was simply ignoring him.

"We've told you of our business in these woods. Can you now tell us why you're here?" Elissa asked while stepping forward to stand between the two parties.

"As your foreign friend correctly guessed, I was merely curious. I've seen plenty of your scouting parties but never before have I seen a group with such a determination to get to a specific location." Lyna wasn't sure to make of this so called witch. She didn't seem hostile but something told the elf to still be wary of her. Elissa didn't seem to be too frightened though as she continued with her questions.

"Do you know who took the documents?"

"I do."

"Can you tell us who it was?"

"I can."

"Seems like you'll have to be a lot more specific in your questions, Elissa." Daylen said once he had stopped staring at the witch's... daring choice of outfit. Lyna had realised when coming to Ostagar that elves show a lot more skin than humans do but this woman was the opposite.

"I find it disrespectful to come stomping into my home and demand answers without any proper greetings. That's why I'm reluctant to answer any questions you might have for me."

"I'm Elissa, that's Daylen, Marcus, Daveth, Ser Jory, Alistair and Lyna. Now who has the documents?" Elissa wanted to get this over and done with it seems. Lyna didn't complain though, all the recent fighting had worn her out more than she expected and she just wanted to get back to the camp so she could go through the joining and hopefully be cured of this taint.

"And you may call me Morrigan. As for who took your documents, t'was my mother."

"Your mother? Really?" Daylen asked as if he was expecting it to be a joke.

"My mother. Really." Morrigan sighed as she turned to Lyna. "Are all the men in your group equally foolish?" Lyna glanced to the men in the group and heard Alistair whispering something about how swooping is bad to which Daveth nodded furiously in agreement. Ser Jory seemed to be scared out of his pants as he looked around in every direction as if he was expecting them to be ambushed any second. Marcus was chuckling at Daylen as the mage hung his head from being branded a fool by Morrigan.

"It would seem so, yes." She looked back to the witch. "Could you take us to your mother?" That question earned her the surprised stare of all the men present.

"Now there's a sensible request." Morrigan said while offering a small giggle. "I like you." She turned around and started walking out of the ruins. "Follow me, Wardens, if you would like your documents back." Lyna, Elissa, Marcus and Daylen started following her without a second thought and the rest joined in as they realised they would be left behind otherwise. They followed Morrigan deeper into the woods as Daveth was mumbling something about being put in a pot and cooked alive.

* * *

They had followed this godess for several minutes and Daylen had never been as happy to be walking behind a woman as he was right now. Her long raven-black hair was neatly tied up in a small pony-tail. Her choice of clothing showing just enough to make one desire her but still leave enough to one's imagination. Morrigan, as the woman was called, was such a beauty that he had been at a loss for words when they first met her. Then he had gone and made a fool out of himself again with badly prepared questions. He wish he could control time so he could've made a better first impression. He sighed and moved a bit closer to Marcus who had walked next to him.

"I know I'm off to a bad start. But I got dibs on Morrigan." The other man simply looked at him with a confused expression.

"What?"

"I got dibs on Morrigan." He said again, wanting to make sure that no one else went for her so that he could improve her opinion of him before she got taken. "You got Elissa so it's only fair." Marcus just seemed more and more confused.

"I have no idea what you're going on about. I have no idea what this 'dibs' mean."

"It means that you're not allowed to flirt with her."

"Right..." Marcus looked away from the mage but after a few moments he quickly turned his head back to Daylen. "Wait, so you mean that you think I'm flirting with Elissa?" He said in a tone that was low enough so that the rest of the party couldn't hear him. Getting this sort of reaction from the man was kind of entertaining so Daylen decided to keep going with it.

"Everyone can see that you both secretly love each other. The only reason you two are acting the way you are is because you're building up enough desire until you both confess your feeling to one another. When that happens it will explode and you'll b-"

"What are you two whispering about?" Daveth joined the two as he had probably gotten tired of walking with Ser Baldy and Alistair.

"Daylen called dibs on Morrigan apparantly." Marcus answered before Daylen could continue his predictions.

"Woah that's more than fine with me." Daveth said as he put his hands up in front of his face in a capitulating way. "If you want to to have your balls cut off for some ceremony to summon some old spirit then be my guest." Daylen spent the next couple of minutes arguing that he would be fine and no one would be turned into a creature of any sort. They soon arrived at Morrigan and her mother's...home? It was in such a poor condition that it would probably fall apart if someone leaned against one of its walls. They were greeted just outside the front door by a woman who looked to be older than Daylen's group combined.

"Greetings mother, I bring before you seven Grey War-"

"I see them girl." The old woman croaked out. She analysed every person in the group, some more than others. "Hmm... Not quite as I suspected..." Daylen was feeling a bit nervous being near this old hag but he wasn't going to show it. Afterall, he had to make a good first impression on the mother to the woman of his dreams.

"What were you expecting?" Elissa said with a daring tone as she folded her arms in front of her. Daylen was about to interfere and quietly tell her that it might not be such a good idea to anger this one. But instead of getting mad she just laughed. It even was one of those typical witch laughs which made Daveth whimper a bit.

"Oh, I was expecting Wardens. But I wasn't expecting the kind of people who turned out to be those Wardens." Daylen didn't quite understood what she meant and looked towards his companions to see if they could follow what the witch was saying. Daveth and Ser Jory were almost hugging each other out of fear in the back. Alistair and Lyna stood and looked as lost as he did. Elissa just looked frustrated and Marcus looked kind of furious. His eyes looked like they had when he fought them that night about a week ago. It seems like the witch noticed this and looked towards Marcus. "You, for example. You're a long way from The Anderfels." They all turned with surprised looks as she had successfully managed to guess where Marcus was from. "What made you travel across Thedas, young man?"

"Darkspawn." He simply answered, not taking her eyes off her for a second. He seemed ready to attack the witch at a moment's notice, completely different to how he had behaved when Morrigan had showed herself.

"Is that all I wonder?" Morrigans mother said as if she knew something that the rest didn't. She went on to the next person. "And this one who has to choose between certain or uncertain death." She said while looking deep into Lyna's eyes who started shifting uncomfortably. She had now also correctly guessed that the elf was carrying the taint. "And then we have you, the free-speaking girl who's carrying so much hatred around." Elissa narrowed her eyes.

"How do you know all this?" Elissa asked.

"In the tower they say that age and knowledge goes hand in hand. And she does seem to be quite old." Another one of those bone chilling laughs could be heard from the woman.

"Oh, I certainly am old by your standards, young mage." She looked at the group of Wardens again. "Such a fascinating group, I wonder what you all will experience on the bumpy road ahead of you. Who of you that will manage to climb the hills and who of you that will stray from the path." Daylen didn't like this old woman at all. She seemed to imply that some of them wouldn't survive the coming days. "But I shouldn't keep you. Your Grey Warden masters would like their treaties back as soon as possible I'm sure."

"So they _did _get stolen!" Alistair suddenly shouted from the back where he was standing between Daveth and Ser Jory. Daylen could see Morrigan roll her eyes, those beautiful amber eyes.

"I've protected them, young man. The magic seal you put around them wore off ages ago." Alistair just responded with a surprised 'oh' as she handed the papers to Elissa who was standing in front of the group. The old woman then turned to the rest of them and spoke with a voice that was more serious than earlier. "Tell your fool king that this blight threat isn't as easy to defeat. Tell your general that this blight threat is more serious than he wants to believe. Lastly, tell your Grey Warden masters that this blight isn't the only thing that's threatening Thedas." That last warning got them all looking in confusion to each other. All except Marcus, Daylen noticed, who still had his eyes fixed on the witch.

"What does that mean?" Elissa asked as she handed the papers to Alistair.

"You're asking the wrong person." She said as she started laughing in that frightening way again, Daylen was going to have nightmares just from the laugh alone. "But the answer to your question will be answered soon enough, for now you should focus on your current task." She started walking back to her hut. "My Morrigan will show you the way back to your camp." A sigh escaped Morrigan.

"Very well then. Follow me, Wardens." Daylen happily obliged. Another hour to spend looking at those amazing hips swaying back and forth? Yes please! With that the group started their walk back towards Ostagar. Some of them breathing sighs of relief, others still glaring angrily back towards the hut in which Flemeth had escaped into.

* * *

The group was approaching the gates they had left a couple of hours earlier. Their guide, Morrigan, had quickly bid them goodbye once they were within sight range of the camp. Daylen and Daveth had been gone to great lengths to try to strike up any discussion on their way back and had been left disappointed when she shot them all done. Seems like Daveth was past all this being turned into a frog phase. Those two had been the only ones sorry to see the woman leave. Elissa and Lyna seemed like they couldn't care any less and Ser Jory had been relieved that he had not been turned into a toad even once. Marcus also didn't really care too much about her sudden departure, she had surprised him at the ruins but it was her so-called mother who had caught his attention. Marcus was certain what she hid behind her human mask, he had felt that kind of presence before. Power, knowledge and the way she looked down on them like they were nothing more than insects. Part of him hoped that they would never cross paths again but another part of him urged him to go back there and drive his spear right through her heart. He fought against the later part, he had a much more urgent task ahead of him, she could be dealt with later. Once inside Alistair quickly excused himself saying that he would find Duncan and then head back to the Grey Warden camp for the night. Their joining would be tomorrow and for now they should get some much-needed rest in their own personal little camp.

"Why are they putting us in a separate camp?" Lyna asked as they were setting up their tents.

"With how loudly Ser Baldy snore? I ain't surprised." Daveth answered, earning him laughter from Daylen who finally broke out of his depression over losing the sight of Morrigan. "I swear to the maker a couple of nights ago he managed to wake up the mabari camp. Not a single soldier had a good night's sleep when that happened." Ser Baldy looked angry and embarrassed, guess it was true then.

"Won't be any different for me then. I find it difficult to catch any sleep lately." Lyna said. Marcus guessed that it had to do with the taint. Daveth offered to tuck her in which she quickly and rudely turned down. Marcus looked up and saw the sunset, meaning that they still had a couple of hours until the camp 'shut down' so to say. As if reading his mind Dayen suddenly spoke up.

"Either way it's still a bit early and I'm starving, anyone coming with me to find some food?"

"I'm with you." Marcus replied, not being surprised to hear Elissa and Lyna saying that they would eat the last of their own food once Daveth said he was starving as well and accepted Daylen's invite. Ser Jory apparently had some praying to do. The three remaining recruits made their way to the biggest cloth building in the area which, judging by the size and smell, would be the mess tent. It was somewhat empty with only the occasional group of soldiers eating, considering how late it was he wasn't surprised. As they each grabbed a plate of food they sat down close to a group of soldiers who were happily chatting away about some tournament of some sorts. Most of them had that stupid accent and Marcus gave up trying to listen in and blocked out their sounds.

"The cheese was all gone..."

"It's okay, Daylen. We'll come here earlier tomorrow and I'll even give you my share of the cheese." Daveth said as he put a comforting hand on the mage's shoulder.

"Really?" His eyes was shining, Marcus still couldn't understand his obsession with cheese. It was fine and all but this was just over the top.

"Aye, as long as you leave that Morrigan lass to me." Daylen's eyes died down instantly.

"Please don't make me choose." Marcus took a mouthful of the ale he had and cursed at how watered down it was. Wondering why they even bothered to serve it instead of just plain old water instead. He suddenly felt someone hit him lightly on the arm facing the soldiers next to them. He looked in the direction of the hit and a woman with shoulder long black hair and bright blue eyes stared into his, her face beaming with the same kind of carefree smile she had displayed earlier that day.

"I thought you looked familiar! You're that Warden recruit, did you manage to find that allstar guy?" A man looked curiously from where he sat on the other side of her. They were the two Marcus had very briefly spoken to when they had looked for Alistair when they had arrived at Ostagar. He was slightly upset with himself that he had not recognised them.

"Yeah we managed to find Alistair." He said, making sure to correct her guess at the man's name. "And sorry if I forgot to introduce myself last time we met, the name's Marcus." He said as he shook her hand, noticing a strength you wouldn't expect from a woman of her size. She still had that beaming smile on her face as she answered him.

"You didn't forget, it was just that I could barely understand you with that accent of yours." Daylen must've been listening in because he erupted in laughter and Daveth was chuckling like crazy as well. She was one to talk, her accent sounded a bit like the bartender in Lothering which made it slightly difficult for him to follow what she was saying. "Anyway!" She exclaimed as she moved back a bit to provide vision between Marcus and the man on her other side. "Good to meet you, Marcus! I'm Marian Hawke and this is my brother Carver." He shook her brother's hand, noticing an unsurprising amount of strength given how huge the man's arms were. "People mostly just call me Hawke though."

"A real pleasure to meet you, my lady." Daylen stretched over Marcus, getting his dirty robe in Marcus' stew. He made a mental note to get revenge later on the mage. "I'm Daylen, another Grey Warden recruit and this skirt chaser here is Daveth." He leaned in a bit closer further ruining Marcus' food. "Stay away from him." He whispered.

"Oy, Daylen. I thought you called dibs on Morrigan. What's this all about?" The skirt chaser said as he stood up, trying to seem as dominant as possible in front of their new target. Marcus felt a bit sorry for Hawke, having those two after her.

"Don't worry, I have no desire for either one of you and I never will." She said with the same smile never leaving her lips. Daylen and Daveth both seemed to take a fatal shot right to their souls as they both sunk back into their seats. She turned her focus back on Marcus. "What i wanted to ask is if you wanted to join us for a small hand to hand tourney we're having later? Everyone participating throws in a couple of silvers and winner gets it all. No weapons and the one with their back on the ground or face full of mud loses. Interested?" Marcus shrugged, figured it would be good practice and he had nothing else to do anyway.

"Sure, I'm in."

"Can I join in as well?" Daveth asked, probably revived from the mention of coin. Hawke seemed a bit hesitant at first but accepted.

"Fine, but touch me in certain places and I'll break your hands. Leaving you bored once you get back to your tent all alone." Daylen and a couple of the soldiers who had their attention to the discussion laughed at the comment. "And I must ask, but where are you from? You certainly don't sound Fereldan." Hawke suddenly asked Marcus. A question which Daylen had no problem answering for him it seems.

"He's from The Anderfels, having a vacation in our country and decided to try this 'darkspawn-killing' thing that seems to be so trendy now." Once again leaning over Marcus, this stew is way past saving now.

"Do you always answer for him?" Hawke asked with a serious tone.

"No he doesn't. Only when there's a woman asking the questions it would seem." Marcus smirked as he looked at Daylen putting up his hands in surrender. He sat back in his own seat once again.

"So what's someone from the Anderfels doing down here? Other than being on vacation."

"Killing darkspawn is pretty much it." She didn't seem convinced by the answer but that was the only answer she was getting. Thankfully, before more questions would be asked, the man sitting next to her whispered something in her ear and she turned to the three Warden recruits.

"Alright, the tourney will start soon. Finish up and follow me." With that command they quickly ate the last food on their plates, except for Marcus of course since his had been destroyed by a mage's robe that hadn't been washed in weeks. Daylen would would find a dead rat or something in one of his future meals.

* * *

The camp was so dreadfully boring to Elissa. Lyna had been good company but she was now asleep. She had come across some familiar Highever soldiers but all they felt like talking about was what had happened up at Highever, a subject Elissa had no desire to speak about. She decided to follow the only sound that seemed to contain some level of excitement in it. A group of people were cheering and yelling over by the training grounds and she figured that was the best place to relieve her boredom. In one of the corner of the area she saw soldiers forming a ring cheering at whatever was happening in the middle of it. Elissa guessed that people were sparring against one another but usually people aren't this excited over something like that. Must be some high-class combatants. That thought quickly left her though once she got close enough to see that it was Daveth engaging in unarmed combat against some woman. And she was completely thrashing him.

"You got here just in time to see the best part." She suddenly heard Daylen say and noticed that the mage was standing right next to her.

"And what exactly is it that I'm seeing?"

"Daveth and Marcus got invited to this sparring tournament, couple of silvers on the line." The crowd around them cheered as Daveth got taken down face first into the mud and the woman started high-fiving some of the soldiers around them. "And now it seems like Daveth will go home empty-handed."

"Well, I have to admit that watching that was quite entertaining."

"If Marcus wins his next one then he will face that woman for the coin." As he said that Marcus made his way into the center of the ring of soldiers. Elissa figured that they were almost done considering the amount of muddy and somewhat bruised soldiers forming the circle. Daveth and the woman who had beaten him walked up to Elissa and Daylen. "You still got some mud in your hair, Daveth." The mage said with a smirk.

"I'm surprised you found the strength to stand up, Daylen." He replied with a smirk of his own. "And anyway, her brother wasn't lying. You're one tough lass." He told the woman who had thrashed him. She wasn't paying much attention to him though as she walked up to Elissa and stretched out her hand for a greeting.

"You must be either Elissa since you don't look like an elf." Elissa narrowed her eyes towards Daylen and Daveth, she dread to think what they've told Hawke about her. She turned back to the other woman and shook her extended hand.

"Elissa, yes. Good to meet you and thank you for doing what I've wanted to do for the major part of the day." Hawke responded with a smile, maker that smile was bright.

"I took more pleasure in beating him than I did the others, I admit."

"I got an idea for another competition we could do that would involve even more pleasure." Elissa shot another glare towards Daveth but Hawke just didn't pay any attention to what he had said. Her eyes were now on the two men in the center of the ring where Marcus and some unknown soldier stood face to face a couple of feet away from each other. A woman who seemed to be the one overseeing the fights shouted for the match to begin.

"Two silvers on Marcus." Daylen quickly said as everyone's focus turned to the fight. The other soldier quickly rushed up to Marcus, hoping to catch him off-guard. A quick sidestep and parry caused Marcus to have a good hold on the soldier from one of his sides. The soldier tried to used his leg to throw Marcus down but was easily countered and was down in the mud a second later. Elissa thought that the soldier had been painfully easy to read. That initial charge, while smart, had not worked in the slow soldier's favor.

"I was going to bet against you but never had the chance." Daveth responded as cheers could be heard from all around.

"Well, last fight Marcus had ended with him just playing around with Hawke's brother after the fight got dragged out and fatigue hit him. This guy must've figured that he couldn't win in a stamina battle and decided to go all in." Daylen said as he waved for Marcus who was on his way over to them. "You couldn't at least make it look like an even fight?" The man just shrugged in response.

"Quite a bit of silver on the line. Not taking any chances." Maybe riches was somehow his motivation for coming to Ferelden. Elissa wasn't sure how much one would earn while in the Wardens though. "Next fight will be closer if Hawke keeps fighting like she has been so far."

"_Closer_? You're saying you have no doubts about winning?" The woman said with a smile, making sure that there were no hard feelings about what was going on.

"I never intend to lose in anything." He responded with a smile of his own. The woman who were overseeing the fights called for them to get to the middle of the ring. The soldiers around them were now getting more excited than earlier upon seeing the final two square off against each other. Even Elissa found it to be entertaining, it was certainly better than just sitting in her tent for the rest of the evening. She also silently hoped that this Hawke woman would crush Marcus. When thinking that she remembered the discussion with Lyna just a few moments ago, she mentally told herself to stop acting so childish. Daylen and Daveth were more vocal over who they were hoping would win.

"Five silvers on Marcus winning."

"You're just upset over losing against Hawke."

"Aye, and that's why I put five silvers on her opponent. So you in?"

"Sure." Daylen laughed as the bets were made and the fight started. Although you couldn't really tell since all they were doing was keeping their distance from each other, walking in a circle. Neither one wanted to jump in first since one mistake would cost you the win. Their eyes were completely focused on their opponent and it was like the audience didn't exist in their world. Hawke tried to fake an attack in hope that Marcus would show an opening but the man didn't bite. This fight wouldn't come down to who was the stronger one, it would come down to who made the first mistake. Most of the soldiers tried to urge them on to make something happen but it took at least a minute or two before Marcus went for it. He obviously was stronger than Hawke but the woman was more agile. She just managed to evade his attempt at grabbing her arm and tried to land a kick to his leg. He barely dodged it and had to back away even more since Hawke tried to grab him the same way as he had. They were now back to just walking around in circles after a few intense moments, much to the dismay of the crowd.

"Wonder if we can ask the darkspawn to wait until they're done here before they attack us." Daveth commented loud enough for the combatants to hear. They seemed to ignore it as they kept their distance. That didn't last long though as both charged each other, seemingly tired of waiting for the other to mess up. They locked their arms and both tried to get a good grip on the other. Hawke managed to get a good kick in the midsection of Marcus and followed it up with a quick headlock. As Marcus pushed her away Hawke spun around and jumped up on his back and locked him in a chokehold.

"Be ready to pay up." The mage said teasingly to Daveth, who only responded with a smile and a slight nod towards the two fighters. Marcus had one of Hawke's legs locked by his side, Hawke tried to break free but didn't want to lose the chokehold she had. This all ended with Marcus trying to shake himself free while ready to use the leg to do a throw. Hawke's grip suddenly loosened up and Marcus managed to get his head free for the first time in a while. He quickly used her leg to throw her but Hawke somehow managed to grab a hold of one of Marcus' own legs. The momentum behind the throw coupled with the muddy and slippery surface made Marcus fall over as well and they both hit the ground at pretty much the same time. The cheers quickly died down as there was no clear winner.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Daveth said. "So who exactly won there?" Before anyone else could answer the overseeing woman announced that it was a tie and the profits were to be split between the two combatants. Some cries of disagreement could be heard but most of the soldiers found it to be entertaining either way.

"At the end of the day, I think we're all winners." Daylen answered with a smile. Elissa was slightly upset that Marcus had not completely lost but decided that him winning was good enough. The two fighters returned to the group of Warden recruits, mud all over their clothes. "You wish you could've joined, Elissa?" The mage asked, forcing Elissa out of her realm of thoughts.

"I feel more comfortable at ranged compared to melee." She could hold her own in close combat but using a short bow felt way more natural to her. It didn't matter anyway, she could use her bow in close quarters.

"I can make you feel more comfortable in melee." She gave Daveth a tired expression, she knew what he was hinting at. "After this, in my tent." She just decided to ignore him instead and looked towards Hawke.

"You're quite the fighter. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Self-taught." The woman responded with a smile, it seemed like it never left her face.

"Well, with your skills you could without a doubt become a Grey Warden." Hawke quickly cut her off.

"While I have nothing but respect for your order, I have no wish to join it."

"That's a shame, we could've been recruits together." Daveth said as he moved a bit closer to the woman, who gracefully stepped away equally far.

"I bet your reluctance to join has to do with Daveth." Daylen said while chuckling. "Anyway, I've lost enough silver for one night, I'll be on my way back to the tent." Daveth decided that he had done enough harm to his reputation for now so he followed the mage back to the recruit's camp. The soldiers had started dispersing as well and Elissa, Marcus and Hawke started walking back to their camps who were in the same direction.

"How many battles have there been so far?" Elissa asked, wondering just how much pressure the darkspawn was putting on.

"Not counting scouting parties running into groups of darkspawn? About five or so, I've been a part of two of them." She looked around to make sure no one else was within hearing range. "There have been whispers about the biggest battle yet is going to take place any day now. Scouts have reported seeing a huge army of theirs marching on Ostagar."

"Just how large is this 'huge' army?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know, that's the only word describing their size that I've heard." Elissa felt a bit uneasy. The biggest darkspawn army so far and they didn't have any good numbers. She hoped Cailan would make the correct decision and let Loghain handle the strategy part of the battle. Afterall, Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir was one of the most competent generals Ferelden have ever had. "So will the two of you be in the battle?" Elissa looked towards Marcus who just shrugged his shoulders.

"We haven't heard anything, we only arrived here earlier today."

"I see." She said as she came to a stop. "Well, this is my tent. If we never see each other again it was nice meeting you!" Hawke disappeared into a cluster of tents which left Elissa alone with Marcus. Knowing that it would be even more awkward to just walk away without saying anything she turned to him.

"Let's head to our camp then, feels like I've been denied sleep for far too long." Marcus looked surprised, he was probably not expecting her to start any sort of conversation with him. As they walked Elissa thought back to what she and Lyna had been talking about earlier at supper. The elf trusted Marcus and so did Daylen. Elissa had to admit that she had used Marcus to vent some of the anger she held towards Howe on him. And then he had apologised for the one thing she could actually hold against him once they had arrived at Ostagar. She was now treating him badly without any real reason and she had been brought up better than that. "Hey, Marcus?"

"Yeah?" Still a hint of surprise in his voice.

"I'm sorry for acting the way I have until now. Any good reason I had to stay mad at you disappeared when you apologised and I was being childish for not accepting it." And now he was in shock, Elissa found it quite funny to see such an expression in his face. A few moments of silence followed, neither one sure of what to say.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about whatever it was that happened to you and your family." Marcus said with sincerity in his voice, Elissa felt a great burden life off her shoulders. She had Howe, there was no point in trying to make more enemies.

"Thank you." She said in a near whisper, still uncomfortable at hearing anyone speak of it. Marcus didn't seem to catch that though.

"Do you need to talk about it?" Elissa was deep in thought for a few seconds.

"Yes." He seemed a bit unconvinced by the answer.

"Do you _want_ to talk about it?"

"... No." Marcus was nice enough to let it go after her response. She decided to try to lighten up the situation, if she was going to make an effort to get along with the man she wasn't going to do it half-assed. "Not unless you tell me why you're really here." She said with a smirk. Would be quite hilarious if she managed to wring out some secrets before Daylen managed to. Marcus simply smiled back.

"Let's leave it for now then." And with that they walked back to the Grey Warden recruit camp. Air around them a lot less tense than it had been for the past few days.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_A/N - Yes, another author's note. I just wanted to mention that this chapter is slightly shorter than the others and they will probably continue to be of different lengths. I don't set any min/max limit on how many words there should be per chapter, I just end them when I think it's a good time to do so. Once again thanks to the people following/favoriting/reviewing/reading/whatever. It feels great to know that people are liking this as it'll now start to take off for real, now that we're almost at the 'real' adventure.  
_

* * *

Her head was throbbing, joints were aching and she barely had the strength to move her eyelids. Judging by the light streaming into her tent, it was late morning. Lyna had gone to sleep early so there was no excuse to be this tired this late. Well, Of course there was an excuse. The taint had gotten a stronger hold over her during the night. She groaned as her body found the power to roll away from the sunlight that had been harrasing her face. The groan must've been louder than intended as she heard someone approach her tent followed by the sound of tent flaps being opened.

"How do you feel?" The sound of a woman who a good deal of worry in her voice. She had told Elissa last night of how she was getting weaker by the minute. Though it was difficult to show off such weakness, to a human no less, she was now so weak that she wanted someone to know about it if it started getting worse. Lyna had a great amount of pride but that wouldn't help her if she was dead. "Lyna?"

"I'm... not fine." The tent was quiet for a few moments before Elissa spoke up.

"I'll go get Duncan." There was no question to get Lyna's approval or opinion. Lyna could only once again groan in response as the human went off to fetch the only person who could mend this pain, hopefully. She heard some more voices outside the tent speaking briefly to Elissa. Even in this weakened state her hearing was still better than most and unless she was wrong, the voices belonged to Daylen and Marcus. Her focus was nowhere near enough to be able to make out what they were saying though. She was surprised to find that knowing these people were close-by brought her a sense of comfort. The people she had travelled with for only a few days made her feel as secure as the clan had. This also scared her, was her faith in her clan too weak or her trust in humans too great?

"Creators..." She groaned again as the headache came back in full force. Her hand went out to search for her bag, she had some herbs in there that could hopefully ease the pain a bit.

"It's getting worse?" Another voice full of worry came from the entrance of her tent. All these people acting like she could break if you as much as sneezed in her vicinity, it was getting tiresome. She opened one of her eyes to confirm that it had been Marcus she had heard. The man had his head inside the tent, careful not to intrude too much. Before she could answer another head popped in underneath Marcus, it looked quite comical.

"Don't tell me that you're looking for herbs when you have a perfectly fine healer only a few feet away." Daylen said in a light-hearted tone. Bringing a nice change to all the worry she had been bombarded with so far this morning.

"You people didn't even give me a chance to wake up before I could realise I was in pain." She said as she mustered all her strength to crawl out of the tent. She put a hand on Marcus' shoulder as he led her to a log by their camp's fire pit. As she sat down she could feel Daylen's hands hovering over her head as she felt the soothing effects of magic doing it's job. Her keeper had healed quite a few times from the injuries she had gotten on hunts. The magic was working though as the headache that had been plaguing her since she woke up was fading. The sunlight was no longer like daggers in her eyes and she finally get a good look around the camp. Marcus sat beside her as he tried to mend his armor, with not much success. Daveth and Ser Jory was speaking to a group of soldiers just outside their camp area and she could see Elissa walking together with Duncan and Alistair towards her. They stopped briefly to motion for Daveth and Ser Jory to follow them before they joined with the remaining recruits.

"I've been told that the taint is getting worse?" Duncan asked in a way that indicated he already knew the answer.

"Yes, when am I to go through this joining?"

"We were actually on our way over here before we ran into Elissa." He said as Lyna stood up, surprising herself at how steady she was. Daylen really was a great healer. "Everything is prepared for the joining. We will begin immediately." Everyone started following Duncan as he walked away from the camp. Elissa walking next Lyna, as if to tell her that she's there if she needs her.

"Is it true that a large darkspawn force is marching towards Ostagar and might be here before tomorrow?" Daylen suddenly asked Duncan.

"Where did you hear this?" There wasn't any anger in the old man's voice, only curiosity.

"Marcus told me this morning that he had heard it from some soldier last night." Duncan didn't react much, as if he had expected them to find out.

"Yes and that is the one reason why we are making haste with the joining." Lyna knew that the other reason was her but no one mentioned it.

"Can you tell us now about what we are about to go through." Elissa asked, still walking next to Lyna.

"I will not lie. Us Wardens pay a heavy price to become what we are. Fate sometimes demand that you pay for it now rather than later." Lyna knew what he meant by those words, the joining could be fatal. She had expected as much and she had nothing to lose anyway so she was going to see it through either way. She was worried about the others though who still had a life ahead of them. Elissa seemed determined, like she had also expected it. Daylen looked slightly worried but gave no sign that he wouldn't see it through. Daveth wasn't even paying attention to what was being said as he looked towards a group of female soldiers that walked past them. Marcus looked calm, really calm. It was as if what Duncan had said was old news. Ser Jory didn't take the news well though.

"You're saying I will be facing a foe that I can not cut down with my blade?"

"There are more ways you can fight your battles, Ser Jory." Alistair responded, Lyna having nearly forgot he was there as he walked in the back. Had he gotten back there by chance or was he walking in the back to make sure they didn't try anything? They walked for a few minutes to a secluded area where, on a table, there was a giant chalice. Lyna couldn't see the contents of it but she guessed it had something to do with the darkspawn blood they had gotten the day before.

"But have I not proven my worth?"

"Stop being such a coward." Daveth joined in.

"I am no coward! I am ju-"

"The elf, who is half your size, has bigger balls than you." Lyna felt so tired that she couldn't even give a comment to that. Daylen started chuckling but was cut off by Duncan who was not amused one bit.

"Every Warden before you has gone through this joining, as will you." He turned towards Alistair. "We speak only a few words before the joining but they are words that have been spoken since we first mastered the taint. Alistair, if you will?" The other Warden nodded and began reciting some sort of speech.

"Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us as we-" Was as far as Lyna managed to comprehend before she started a fight against her tiredness. They kept dragging it out, couldn't they just get it over with already? She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Elissa with a faint smile on her lips. She returned it and changed her focus back towards the chalice. That simple object would decide her fate, life or death. As Ser Jory had said, she no longer had control of her future. When thinking about it, she had not had any control ever since she and Tamlen had found that mirror. Duncan's words snapped her out of her little memory trip.

"Lyna, step forward." She nodded and took shaky yet determined steps up towards Duncan who was holding the chalice for her. She took it from his hands and glanced down at the red liquid. Doubt suddenly flooded her mind, this liquid isn't going to save me. Even if it keeps me alive I will still be trapped as a Grey Warden. I will no longer be able to take a step in a certain direction unless someone commanded it. Her doubts made her look back to her companions. Daveth and Ser Jory were angrily whispering to each other, not bothering to be a part of her possible final moments. Elissa, Marcus and Daylen had all their focus on her though. Their eyes clearly stating that they were there for her. That was all the push she needed and she gave them a faint smile and took a mouthful of the contents of the chalice. Handing it back to Duncan she thought that this new family of hers might not be as bad as her clanmates had been saying her whole life. Elves and Humans were quite alike once you get to know them both. Those were the last thoughts she had before everything went black and that cursed headache from earlier came back with a vengeance.

* * *

Elissa watched in horror as Lyna fell to the stone floor. The scream the elf had made had sent shivers down Elissa's spine. She had started moving towards their companion when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Marcus, the man who the hand belonged to, lightly shooked his head and she saw a small smile in the corners of his lips. The man was happy about what was happening in front of them. She was just about to punch him when Duncan's voice said with a hint of relief.

"She lives." Elissa's head snapped back to the elf on the floor with Duncan kneeling over her, checking her pulse. She looked back towards Marcus and could now see the same kind of relief in his eyes. Alistair gently took the elf away to one of the walls.

"Phew... One down, five to go." Daylen sighed. Elissa was suddenly reminded that Lyna wasn't the only one who had to go through this. Five deaths were possible to happen in the next few minutes.

"Daveth, step forward." Duncan's voice now boomed as the mood had taken a turn for the worse. Everything suddenly feeling more mortal than they have ever been before. Duncan held out the chalice the same way as he had to Lyna. Daveth walked with cautious steps towards the man and carefully took the chalice from him. He hesitated a bit too long for his own good and Elissa could hear Daylen's encouragements from her side.

"Come on, Daveth. You'll make it through this." That seemed to give the man the determination he needed as he took a mouthful of the deadly drink. As he handed the chalice back to Duncan a smile formed on his lips.

"Well, that was more disgusting than I was expect..." His words trailed off as he looked lost for a moment. Suddenly his hands went up to his head as he seemed to be fighting a demon trying to break out of his skull. The screams that came from the man easily rivaled Lyna's and his eyes went white. Elissa once again looked in horror as the man fell to the floor and held her breath, waiting to see what fate had decided this time. While she didn't care very much for the man she didn't want him dead. Duncan's head bowed in sadness as he checked for the pulse.

"I am sorry..." He said as he stood up and motioned for Alistair. The younger Grey Warden dragged Daveth's lifeless body away to one of the walls and slowly put a blanket over him. It seemed like the pyre's would have to wait. Elissa noticed that there were more than one blanket, as if they expected there to be more deaths.

Ser Jory, Step for-" Duncan's words were interrupted by the sound of steel. Ser Jory had drawn his weapon and kept it in a defensive position with his back up against a wall.

"You can't do this!" He shouted, eyes filled with panic. "I have a wife and we're going to have our child in just a few months!" Elissa felt sorry for the man but couldn't help to wonder what he had been expecting. While Grey Wardens were respected they were respected for a reason. The amount of sacrifice the Grey Wardens had to do was far greater than any other order. This joining alone was evidence enough.

"There is no turning back." Duncan calmly said as he reached for a weapon of his own. Elissa tensed up as she knew what was about to happen. She glanced over to the other two recruits and saw Daylen with an aura of sadness around him. Understandable since he had seemed to get along with Daveth quite well. Marcus looked towards Ser Jory with disappointed eyes as the man charged towards Duncan. The older man simply side-stepped the desperate man and drove his sword right into the chest of Ser Jory. She didn't want to look but couldn't bring herself to look away. As Ser Jory made some surprised and painful gurgles, Duncan took the sword out of the man and let him fall to the ground. "I am sorry..." He said once again. As Alistair was left with the painful task to drag off the body again, Daylen asked the two remaining recruits in a quiet tone.

"Promise me there won't be any more deaths." No one answered but Elissa knew that they all intended to come out of this alive. She had no idea what it was that made you live through this and what ended you life. Lyna had been weak from the taint and Daveth had been a man in the prime of his life.

"Daylen, step forward." They were being brought forward like cattle. Daylen seemed scared but he still moved over towards the chalice in the hands of Duncan. He took a few moments to simply look at it before he took a deep breath and took it into his own hands. Elissa noticed that his hands were trembling ever so slightly. She felt that out of the three remaining recruits, Daylen had the worst chance of making it. She didn't know why she felt this way but she had this gut feeling that hers and Marcus' chances of walking away from this place were higher. Before she knew it Daylen had started handing back the chalice and a look of disgust was on his face. She held her breath to brace herself for what was about to follow. The scream came as expected. The white eyes showed themselves as expected. Duncan checked for the pulse as expected. "He lives. Welcome to the Grey Wardens, Daylen." Duncan's confirmation that he was alive came as hoped. Elissa noticed that Marcus had also held his breath.

"You were uncertain that he would make it?" She asked.

"I was certain that he would make it." He said as he turned towards her. "But I was also certain that Daveth would make it."

"Guess you can never be sure with something like this." She said as she looked towards the two different groups of motionless people. One group would live on until the darkspawn claimed them and the other would were on their way to the maker.

"Elissa, step forward." Duncan was already standing with the chalice ready. She walked with heavy steps up to the man. The same man that would either pronounce her dead or alive in just mere moments. She, as the others, simply looked down into the chalice before taking it. The red liquid that had been the death of a person earlier and doomed two other to a lifetime of servitude to the Wardens. She felt the stares of Duncan, Alistair and Marcus and mentally began preparing herself. Her mind told her that she had to live through this. If she died here then Howe would win. If she died here then her brother would lose his whole family. If she died here then she would let everyone down. She took the chalice and took a mouthful before any doubts could begin to grow. She felt fine as she handed it back to Duncan and a small shred of hope filled her. That was before it hit her. Images of the darkspawn followed by endless darkness and voices she couldn't block out no matter what she tried. She knew she was screaming but couldn't hear it. Everything suddenly went quiet and endless darkness was all around her. She tried moving her head but it was impossible to tell if she was able to. The quiet suddenly got replaced by a great roar which made her tremble to her very core. The darkness also vanished as a dragon suddenly came into view. It stared at her and she stared back. She dared not blink while the dragon stared right into her soul and she could not find the power to look away. It roared once again, this time in clear anger. That was the last thing she saw before she slipped into darkness once again.

* * *

Daylen woke up with a snap. Sweat running down his face and breathing harder than he had ever done before. He took a quick look around to see where he was where he hoped he would be. He could see Alistair together with Lyna, deep in conversation. He couldn't see where Daveth and Ser Jory had been and he couldn't see Elissa or Marcus. His mind started racing, they wouldn't leave him half-dead on the ground and they wouldn't leave Lyna just like this. The only option he could think about was that they had not survived the joining. The two people he had thought would make it through it without any problems had died. Alistair and Lyna made their way over to him as they noticed him sitting up.

"I'm sorry." Was all Alistair said. Daylen didn't know how to respond. While sad to see Daveth and Ser Jory passing away he had known them for less than a day. Elissa and Marcus he had known for a good week and while that might not be that long either, they had been together 24 hours per day in that time frame. They had both been friendly towards him and had seen him as a person and not just another mage. He looked towards Lyna and was surprised to see the face she was making. He had expected it to be somewhat sad but she looked irritated, and she was looking at Alistair.

"If you're vague like that he'll get the wrong idea." Daylen looked back towards Alistair as the man looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I'm just good with stuff like this."

"Then let me handle it." She sighed as she switched her focus back to Daylen. "We're sorry that Daveth didn't make it. We know how you two got along quite well." So did this mean that Elissa and Marcus are alive? "Yes, that means that Marcus and Elissa are still breathing. They went off with Duncan some time ago."

"Can you read minds?" Was all he could say while what he really wanted was to jump of joy. The original 'gang' had made it through the joining. "And where are they off to that's more important than to be here to greet me as I wake up?"

"Your king wanted Duncan to bring Elissa to one of their strategy meetings." She looked over to Alistair as if unsure what to say next. "And Marcus..."

"Marcus went to the Warden camp on Duncan's request." Alistair continued. "They just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong with his joining." Daylen felt uneasy once again. Something wrong with his joining? That can't be good.

"What exactly went wrong? Is he alright?"

"That's the thing, you know how you usually scream and fall to the ground unconscious?" Alistair said as the man once again tried to lighten up the serious mood.

"Yes, I had first-hand experience with it only moments ago." Daylen did the same.

"Anyway, seems like Marcus skipped the screaming and falling over part." Daylen was surprised but was it really that unusual?

"And that has never happened before?"

"Well, it's not unheard of but it's really rare. And it's mostly dwarves that go through the joining like that. Humans going through it like that is not something to expect." While strange, Daylen didn't really care. As long as the man had survived was it really important that he had not gone through it the way most other people did?

"Okay, so Marcus is off being checked to see if he cheated somehow. Why did Elissa get be present in a strategy meeting for a major battle?"

"That was because I might be the only remaining Cousland." Elissa's voice suddenly announced her presence. She was walking towards the group with Duncan by her side, Elissa looking slightly upset. "Although with me now being a Warden I don't think that's longer the case?" She said as she looked over to Duncan.

"It's true that Grey Wardens can't involve themselves too much in politics, but keeping your name isn't forbidden." He made a slight nod to Daylen, showing a happy expression. "Good to see that four of you made it. We need every single good man and woman we can get in the fight to come."

"Then why is Cailan putting us in that tower?" Elissa asked with anger in her voice. So this is the origin of her foul mood this time. "If we need every Warden we can get then why does the four of us have to stand holding the torch?"

"We've been through this Elissa." Duncan said in a tired voice.

"What's going on, Duncan?" Alistair asked, seemingly uncomfortable being kept in the dark.

"The king has asked us to send some Wardens to make sure the signal fire for Loghain's charge get's lit." Elissa was about to cut in but Duncan continued. "This is a request from the king and it's as important as the fighting that will take place down in the valley.

"Elissa said 'four of us'. Which ones are going to the tower?" Lyna asked with a tone that was more curious than angry. Seemed like she was fine with being kept from the front lines.

"The four of you." Duncan calmly responded, bracing for another series of questions from the ones who wanted to be in the thick of battle.

"What? I won't join you for the fight?" Alistair was the first to speak up. "I can understand Lyna with her recovering from the taint. I can understand Daylen since you need a mage to lit that thing. I can even understand Elissa with her technically being a Teyrna at the moment." Elissa once again looked like she wanted to object but Alistair did the same thing as Duncan and simply ignored her. "But I have been a Warden for months, I can do more good in the valley than I can in the tower. I'm even afraid of heights."

"We've already agreed on that I can't have any title. I'm a good shot but I can't be sure to not hit friendlies from up there, I'll be worthless."

"I know you want to prove yourselves but this is not up for discussion." And with that Duncan ended the argument. No one dared speak again once he used that kind of voice. "We'll meet up by the bridge to the Tower of Ishal in an hour." A calmly walked away leaving the four Grey Wardens behind. That was something to get used to, He was no longer a simple recruit, he was a full Grey Warden now. Did they get some kind of uniform? He was about to ask Alistair if they did get anything for becoming a Warden and saw the man standing right next to him holding something in his hand.

"A bit late, everyone else has gotten theirs. But this is something we give all new Wardens. A little reminder of the ones who didn't make it." Is he that easy to read? Or is it that everyone except him can read minds and they're just not telling him? "I got some things to take care of before the battle, I'll meet you guys later by the bridge." And with that he quickly walked off in the same direction as Duncan had. The things he had to take care of was probably to pester Duncan a bit more.

"Four Grey Wardens to guard a small fire..." Elissa muttered, still clearly upset.

"There'll always be another battle." He said, trying to calm the woman down. "We'll make sure that Marcus get's stuck on guard duty next time."

"That's another thing, why does he get to fight and we don't?" Elissa asked as she started walking away from the area where the joining had taken place. Daylen and Lyna quickly followed. "Is it because he got through the joining differently than we did?"

"So you know what happened?"

"I just heard a short version of what had happened from Duncan," She shrugged.

"Anyway, how about we go and try to find him before the battle." He didn't want to say it out loud but this might be the last chance they get to see Marcus. With a darkspawn army charging you anything can happen and anyone can die. "He probably hasn't heard of the plan and we should tell him." They both agreed to his request and off they went off into the camp, once again looking for someone with a time limit on them.

* * *

Marcus left the Warden camp, slightly frustrated. The higher ranking officers had been asking him question after question after question and then they had looked at him in disbelief when he gave them answers they didn't like. Or more like lies they didn't like. He had a pretty good idea as to why he had reacted to the joining in the way he did. They didn't need to know the reason though. All that mattered is that he was now a Warden and the archdemon was getting closer to him by the minute. A soldier gave him a respectful nod as Marcus came out of the Warden camp. That was another thing to get used to, he was no longer going to be known as 'the man from The Anderfels'. He was now simply going to be known as a Grey Warden. A title he had not yet decided if he would carry for the rest of his life. Once his business in Ferelden was done he would have to run away once again. That's if he even survived long enough. He saw some soldiers lined up being yelled at by someone in fancy armor. Judging by the quality of the soldier's armor they were going to act as meat shields more than anything else. A familiar woman with short black hair gave him a slight smile and a subtle nod from where she was standing among the soldiers, he returned a smile and nod and hoped that she would survive this war. He felt like it was such a waste to throw competent fighters like her away like the army was doing. He kept walking for a few moments before he realised he had no idea where to go. Duncan had just dropped him off by the Warden camp and left him there. He had not received any more orders from the Wardens there and the battle was getting close. Should he go back to the ruins where the joining had taken place and see if the rest had woken up?

"Since they let you go I'm guessing you're no danger to society?" Daylen's playful tone could be heard from his side. Elissa and Lyna was with him as well. Marcus was surprised that he had not sensed them coming considering they were now Grey Wardens and should be easy to notice.

"Who's to say I didn't slaughter everyone in the Warden camp and broke free?"

"No blood on your armor." Daylen was smarter than he looked like it seems. "Anyway, you look slightly lost?"

"I'm not lost, it's just that I don't have a destination."

"Duncan told the three of us and Alistair to go to the Tower of Ishal to light some kind of beacon at a specific time. He didn't say where you were going though." Lyna said, looking a lot better than she had this morning.

"So I won't be going with you guys?" Lyna shook her head. Marcus was sad to know that they would get separated. He enjoyed the company of these people, even Elissa even though they had spent most of their time knowing each other arguing. He was glad to know that he would probably be fighting in the battle, if the archdemon showed itself he needed to make sure that it got taken care of in the correct way.

"Don't worry, Elissa promised to give you covering fire from the top of the tower." Daylen said as he gave Elissa a smirk.

"I said that I wouldn't be able to use my bow from that distance." She responded with frustration in her voice. Marcus guessed that she did not like being stationed away from the fight. He could understand her as he didn't want to be kept out of the fight either. They went back to their camp to gather their weapons and items that could be of importance such as potions. Marcus figured he would follow them and ask Duncan once they met up with him about where he should go. Once they were out of their camp on their way to the bridge something suddenly caught Elissa's attention, following the same direction as her eyes Marcus saw a woman in heavy armor with a greatsword on her back walking towards them. Elissa swiftly walked up to meet her.

"Cauthrien! I was worried when I didn't see you at the strategy meeting, normally you're never more than a few feet away from Loghain." Whoever the other woman was it seemed like Elissa knew her well considering how casual her tone was.

"I wish I could have attended once I heard that you were there. I'm sorry to hear about what happened in Highever." Elissa gave off a slightly uncomfortable look that was saying she didn't want to talk about it. Seems like this woman called Cauthrien caught on. "And I hear that you've become a Grey Warden now? What's that like?"

"Oh it's okay. been handed the task to make sure the beacon gets lit at the correct time. It's nice to know that all my training and hard work has put me in a place where I can do absolutely no good."

"I take it you're not happy about the task handed to you?"

"No I'm not." Elissa sighed as she folded her arms. Marcus and the others had made their way over to them unsure how to act. Normally one would made introductions but Elissa seemed to have forgotten they were even there. Cauthrien came to the rescue.

"Who are these people?" And it finally hit Elissa that she was not alone.

"Oh right, sorry. These ones here are Lyna, Marcus and Daylen. They all became Grey Wardens at the same time as me. Everyone, this is Ser Cauthrien, Teyrn Loghain's right hand woman." Before they could say anything else a soldier came running up to them and whispered something in Cauthriens ear. Seemed like something urgent had come up. She quickly excused herself and left with the soldier. "Seems like she's as busy as ever." Elissa giggled.

"So how far back do you guys go?" Daylen asked as he watched the woman walk off, Marcus had a pretty good idea exactly where the mage's eyes were resting.

"We met up often in Denerim, with my father being the Teyrn and she being the bodyguard of the other Teyrn."

"Oh, is that it?" Daylen sounded sad.

"What exactly were you expecting?" Elissa asked with narrowed eyes. "No wait, I would rather not know." They all shared a small laugh as they began walking towards the bridge where they were supposed to meet up with Duncan. The small talk was now concentrated around Elissa's Denerim visits and what Denerim was like. Lyna had obviously never been to any major human town before. Daylen had been in the tower as long as he could remember and while Marcus had travelled through some bigger towns they all paled in size compared to Denerim. He was fine with never visiting a city of that size though. His hometown was about as large as Lothering had been and that was big enough for him. Before he knew it Duncan was approaching them by the bridge where they had been waiting. Alistair walking with the Grey Warden commander, looking a bit down.

"Good, you're here as well." He said while looking at Marcus. "You'll be coming with me once the rest of you know what to do."

"Climb tower, light fire, watch the battle, celebrate?" Daylen asked.

"Light the fire at the correct time, that is the important bit." Elissa jumped into the discussion. "We'll have to wait until the darkspawn has pushed back the army enough for Loghain's men to flank them."

"So we're going to sit and roll our thumbs and let them kill us until the correct time?" Daylen asked with a tone that suggested he did not like this plan. Elissa was about to say something but Duncan got there first.

"The King together with Loghain has decided on this strategy, if we bring out our whole army on the field right from the start we'll lose far more in the fighting." The man looked weary, it was like he had not had a good night's sleep for a good while. "Elissa and Alistair know when to light the beacon, once it's lit and you've made sure that Loghain has charged you're free to join the battle."

"There'll only be stragglers left once we get down there." Elissa muttered, Duncan must've heard it but ignored it.

"You have your orders, Wardens. Maker watch over you." Lyna made a slight cough. "Or creators in your case." Duncan said with a smile. Marcus decided to lighten up the mood a bit and he coughed as well. Duncan looked over to him clearly uncertain what he believed in. "Or..." Daylen jumped in to save Duncan.

"Some unnamed being that demands blood sacrifice and ales in large quantities. Do you have enough blood and ale to be granted it's protection, Marcus?"

"Ale should be easy to get here in camp, do you want to donate the blood?" The group shared a few laughs and giggles, lessening the tension in the air. Duncan went through some last minute things with the tower group and they said their goodbyes to each other. Duncan motioned for Marcus to follow him as he led them down a trail towards the valley where most of the army had already gathered. As they made it to the valley floor Marcus focused to block out all the negative emotions that were flowing out of the nervous soldiers. The ones who are not used to these kind of situations. The ones who shouldn't be here as they would serve nothing other than bring sadness to the people they left behind as they died in the coming battle. There were men and woman not even old enough to drink alcoholic beverages and here they were expected to be the first line of defense for all of Thedas. That burden would be bearable if they were allowed to drink. Duncan led him to a group that Marcus easily sensed to be Wardens and he even recognised some of them from the camp earlier. Most of them were looking at him with curious stares but he just ignored them. They would forget all about him once they started sensing the darkspawn.

"Remember the plan, we want them to push us back slightly to give room for Loghain to charge."

"You say that like we'll be able to hold them back with this tiny amount of soldiers." Duncan chuckled slightly.

"I know what you're saying. I just thought I would mention that this battle could go on for a good few hours. Save your stamina."

"For the archdemon?" Duncan simply sighed and silently nodded. Marcus thought it to be silly of Duncan to warn him. This battle would be a breeze compared to what he had gone through in the past as long as the trap worked as planned. it had been quite a while since he had been in a real battle as well, his blood was boiling with excitement.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_A/N - I'll just keep doing these notes as it gives me a space to explain certains things I choose to do with my story. Also gives me a space to thank the people who are reviewing, following etc etc. The Tower of Ishal scenes in this chapter is slightly different from the game and that's something I wanna keep doing. Changing events slightly everywhere to try and make it somewhat original. Gonna focus a bit more on character interactions in the future as well since I felt it was somewhat lacking this chapter._

* * *

"You can see the darkspawn in the distance now." Elissa said as she was looking down from the top of the tower where they were standing guard. Herself, Lyna, Daylen and Alistair was up there together with a few more soldiers, getting prepared to light a small fire. This was such a waste of good sword arms. Lyna moved up next to her and looked towards Elissa was pointing.

"That's a lot more darkspawn than I expected." The elf said with a voice full of worry. "I hope this plan will work."

"If it doesn't then we'll just head down and turn the tide." Daylen said as he was walking towards them to take a look for himself. When seeing the dark blur that was closing in on the army he let out a whistle. "That's a lot more darkspawn than I can count, and I can count pretty high." Elissa looked down at the army who were supposed to hold their ground against this horde of monsters. They were severely outnumbered and even if the charge was successful there would be a lot of casualties. She felt like she was betraying everyone down there by staying up here, probably the safest place in the camp. "Where are the Grey Wardens stationed down there, Alistair?" The mage asked as he looked back to the middle of the room where the oldest Grey Warden in their group was sitting on some crates.

"Duncan mentioned that they would be on the right flank, close to the king." The mage smirked in response.

"Where exactly, come over here and point them out for me." Since they had found out that Alistair was afraid of heights Daylen had been relentless in his teasing and mocking. Alistair had tried to walk up to the edge earlier to get a good look down but had only managed to let out a small screech as Daylen had thrown a small rock right next to him as he was close to the edge. He had sat on the crates since then, refusing to move.

"I don't like you." He responded while pouting.

"Well, you are a templar so it's only to be expected."

"It's you as a person that I don't like." The argument stopped as war horns started sounding from the valley. The darkspawn was charging the king's army and all the Wardens in the tower now had their eyes focused on the battle that was about to take place below. Even Alistair moved slightly closer to be able to see but still remained far away from the sudden drop.

"The army's left flank is never going to hold." Daylen muttered. It was clear with the Grey Wardens and the king being on the right flank that it would be far more capable of holding their ground than the left flank would.

"That's the idea, let the darkspawn push through a bit on that side and then let Loghain charge their behind." Alistair answered. Their eyes suddenly drawn to the rain of arrows on fire that rained down on the darkspawn. The fiery rain was followed by the barks and growls of hundreds of mabaris. Elissa wanted to go down there and help as much as she could. So many brave men and women were meeting their end way to early in life. She suddenly remembered what Marcus had said to her that evening in Lothering. How you can't expect to save every person you came across. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Especially here in the middle of a war. She was so deep in thought that she barely noticed the elf lightly grabbed her arm.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she noticed the elf's face. It was intense yet still full of worry.

"I hear darkspawn screams that are closer than they should be." Elissa trusted Lyna when she said it, her hearing was way better than anyone else's here.

"Some darkspawn broke through?" She asked, to which the elf simply shrugged.

"The darkspawn down in the valley aren't even close to the tower yet. I don't see how they've managed to reach us so quickly." Elissa looked down into the valley again. The army and darkspawn were now in locked into each other. There was no longer any escape for either side, whoever retreated would be cut down. The darkspawn were nowhere close to breaking through the army yet as Lyna had said. So what was it that had made the elf believe they were closer than expected.

"Look, the Wardens are even pushing the darkspawn on their side back." Daylen said as he pointed to where Duncan together with the rest of the Wardens were fighting. They were indeed pushing the darkspawn back ever so slightly, this would mean that Loghain's charge would be even more effective if they could hold on long enough. The other soldiers up with them in the tower noticed this as well and began cheering. While Elissa was glad that the battle was going well for them so far she was not blind to the rest of the horde was still pressing on. While looking around at the joyful soldiers she noticed that Alistair had the same face as Lyna had just a minute ago.

"What's wrong, Alistair?" She asked as she made her way over to him. Leaving Lyna and Daylen to continue watching the battle below.

"Something feels wrong, it's like the darkspawn are way closer than they should be. Unless the thousands of darkspawn down in the valley are playing tric-" He got interrupted as the doors slammed open. A soldier ran into the room in a state of panic and clearly out of breath.

"Dar... Darkspawn!"

"You only just noticed them? There's quite a few of them down there." Daylen joked.

"I mean... They're..." He was having problems finishing a single word but Elissa knew that demanding him to spit it out would only prolong what he was trying to say. "In the tower!" Elissa felt the whole room tense up. How could the darkspawn be in the tower? They were nowhere near breaking through down in the valley and they're too bloodthirsty and stupid to be able to sneak around a whole camp of watchful guards.

"How is that possible?" She said in a loud, commanding voice. The soldier flinched slightly mistaking her anger being directed towards him.

"They came... they came out of the ground!" Elissa looked at Alistair, hoping he would have some answers.

"Darkspawn known for digging underneath a battlefield in order to flank their enemies?" She asked. Noticing Daylen and Lyna joining them in the middle of the room.

"They're known for digging but not as a battle strategy." Alistair said as he was deep in thought. Elissa took command again since Alistair was taking way too long to make a decision.

"Daylen and Lyna stay up here, be ready to light the beacon once the army's left flank has been pushed back enough! Alistair and the rest of you, follow me! We'll head down the tower and try and hold them off as long as possible!" She guessed that the darkspawn wouldn't send a simple scouting party to the tower if they went through the trouble of digging into it. They would have to hold them off until the end of the battle below.

"Why am I staying up here?" Lyna asked, clearly feeling left out once again for the second time today.

"You got the best eyes of everyone here and will be able to tell when the best time to light the beacon will be." Elissa said with eyes that begged her not to argue right now. Lyna's eyes was still filled with determination but calmly nodded. With that Elissa turned towards the doors and motioned for the other's to follow her. She would not allow the darkspawn to out-smart them.

* * *

He jerked his spear out of the skull of a darkspawn. His weapon was starting to get dull after all the darkspawn flesh and bone it had been piercing. He took a moment to catch his breath as he noticed no darkspawn was coming at him at the moment. Even with all the shouting and screaming coupled with the sound of metal hitting metal around him it was strangely quiet. Those sounds had started fading into the background. Marcus was slightly sad to see that the Warden who had loudly been keeping count of how many darkspawn he had killed had died himself. The huge man with a great black beard had been far more entertaining to listen to compared to the gurgles and screams of dying men and women. That man was now lying dead beneath the three darkspawn that had simply jumped on top of him and gnawed him to death. Marcus hoped that him killing the man's murderers would bring some peace to his soul. He quickly checked the wound on his shoulder, the spot where a darkspawn axe had aimed to remove Marcus' left arm. That plan had failed and now he was able to take that pain and turn it against the darkspawn themselves. His blood was still boiling with the need for more fighting, more killing but Marcus made sure to keep that desire in check. While he knew he was a good fighter the amount of blood that he had lost would come back and bite him in the ass sooner or later. He needed to stop the blood escaping from the wound and quickly looked around to see if there was any spot that had enough allies that could protect him long enough to treat it.

"Help me! Please!" Marcus looked towards the screams to see a boy, not looking older than sixteen, being pinned to the ground by a darkspawn. Neither of them had any weapons left in their hands and the monster was simply trying to claw out the face of the boy. Marcus started making his way over there when he saw that the darkspawn got some friends. Six more darkspawn made their way over to the brawl and Marcus muttered a silent prayer for the young boy. Him going over there now wouldn't chance a thing and only put himself in even more danger. He blocked out the screams of the boy and started looking for a place where he could patch himself up without running the risk of being overwhelmed. A genlock suddenly caught his attention as it was running towards him. This type of darkspawn was ridiculously easy to kill. Their short frame and small attention span made it impossible for Marcus to take them seriously. This one proved to be like all the others and wildly swung his axe around his head and Marcus simply charged him quickly when the thing was expecting it, impaling it's chest. He kicked it off his weapon and walked over it, towards an area that looked like it still had some sort of advantage over the darkspawn.

"Could I use you guys as cover while I get this fixed?" He said he nodded towards the injured shoulder. The soldier quickly looked at it he finished checking his surroundings for any more of the creatures.

"As long as you promise to stay back here with us and help us hold this afterwards, Warden." Marcus could take that deal, wouldn't be long before this place would be heavily pressured by the darkspawn anyway. He walked behind the line of soldiers and sat down on a couple of darkspawn corpses that had piled up. He swiftly removing his shoulder plates and reached into one of his pockets and brought out the bandage. His blood was calming down from being kept from the fighting and he knew that pain would make itself known to him if he didn't get back to the battle soon. The battle which was going in their favor so far. Soon the left flank would be pushed back far enough to allow this man called Loghain to charge in with his army. While he cursed at how difficult it was to put on the bandage by himself, a voice that was directed at him could be heard from behind.

"Need some help with that?" He recognised that voice and as he looked back his suspicions were correct. It was that Hawke woman he had met yesterday, kneeling over another familiar face that was laying injured on the ground. Her brother had, by the looks of it, taken a pretty bad hit in his chest from a darkspawn sword and he looked quite pale.

"If you can spare the time, sure." He responded, glad to see that someone he had expected to not make it was still alive and breathing. That also reminded him of something. "I would've thought that you would be on the left flank?"

"We were." She said as she sat down in front of him, taking the bandages from him and getting to work. "The darkspawn are winning over there and my brother got cut down." She looked awful, dirt and blood were all over her body and face. Marcus was also pretty certain that her leather armor was now offering as much protection as simple clothes did at this point. "I dragged him over here to give him some protection, I'll head out soon again though." She was working quick, which Marcus was thankful for. He needed to get back out there as soon as possible as well.

"You heading back over to that side?" She shook her head. "Good, this side is about to be overwhelmed any minute now and we need any able-bodied person to hold it."

"I'm staying close to my brother for now. Shall we group up?" He quickly agreed, this woman was an excellent fighter and would make this darkspawn killing so much easier. Quickly making sure her bandaging work was done well enough he stood up and waited for Hawke to go grab her daggers from where she had left them at her brother's side. Saying something to him that Marcus couldn't hear over the shouts and cries he had blocked out. The pain was starting to come back to him now so he gave a quick nod towards Hawke once she got to his side and together they went back out into the fray. Immediately they were greeted by a couple of darkspawn charging towards them. Marcus and Hawke quickly chose one each and made quick work of them. He could feel his blood starting to warm up again and the pain from his shoulder was quickly forgotten as he gave it to the darkspawn instead. Every darkspawn they faced could barely use their left arm which rendered them defenseless to the two's assault. Hawke never questioned the sudden open flanks on the darkspawn and instead just kept on killing. Proving that she knew what she was doing and she was good at doing it. They kept fighting for what felt like hours and Marcus noticed more and more darkspawn starting to surround them. He quickly looked around and noticed that they were being pushed back more and more. He could faintly see the king's golden armor and guessed that Duncan wasn't far away. "Look up there, is that the signal we were told about?" Hawke suddenly asked as she finished off the darkspawn that had attempted to take them on alone. He followed her eyes and saw the Tower of Ishal, beacon clearly lit.

"That must be it, which should mean that out numbers should have doubled." But that had yet to happen. How slow can a charge be he thought. The ground started shaking and he could see two giant beasts making their way straight for the king.

"The only thing worse than an ogre." Hawke sighed. "Two of them. We should probably go over there and help." Marcus didn't have any objections to that and they started fighting their way over towards the king.

* * *

Lyna stared down at the battlefield. The darkspawn was still pressing the army further and further into a corner. The reinforcements were nowhere to be seen.

"You sure you lit it correctly?" She asked the mage in a frustrated voice. Frustration that was not aimed at him but at the situation they were in. Elissa and Alistair had gone off an hour or earlier to hold off the darkspawn that were climbing the tower. In this time she and Daylen had been up here unable to do anything other than to roll their thumbs and watch as thousands of people died in the valley below.

"I've triple-checked. I don't understand why Loghain isn't acting." Daylen said as he walked up next to her, looking down at the battle which would soon turn into a slaughter. The left side of the army was massacred and the right side would soon follow. "Should we maybe start heading down the tower? Help Elissa and rest to get rid of the darkspawn." Lyna took one last look down. The army was losing and there was no point for the two of them to remain up here. They needed to head down and retreat. If this Loghain wouldn't charge in with his army she knew they wouldn't win. She turned and nodded towards Daylen and they made their way towards the door only to have it burst open. She already had her bow out and aimed towards the entrance but quickly lowered it as she saw it was Elissa that was entering the room.

"What's going on?" She quickly asked as she went up to the other woman. She was clearly favoring her right leg and blood was pouring down her left one.

"There's a lot of them, we have to start preparing to barricade the door. We'll have to hold out until the army comes to save us." Lyna froze, they had no way to escape and the army was getting more and more overwhelmed. Elissa must've seen that something was wrong and asked the elf. "What's wrong? I can see that you've lit the beacon so the fight should be going in our favor, right?"

"The beacon has been lit for some time now. The charge never happened." Elissa's eyes flared up in anger as she started walking towards the edge with Lyna's help. As she looked down in the valley she could now see that the fight was clearly lost. Daylen had started moving crates, tables or anything that could be sued to block the entrance. Footsteps could be heard closing in on the room and Lyna hoped that they belonged to Alistair and the others.

"That bastard!" Elissa suddenly yelled. "He's just going to leave the king and Wardens to die!?" Lyna carefully let go of her and handed her arrows to the woman. Elissa was all out of them and with that injured leg she would be no good in melee combat. Lyna would have to rely on her daggers for this and quickly made her way over to help Daylen with the barricade. Alistair together with two other soldiers stormed into the room and quickly noticed the barricade and started helping. All three of them had clearly seen some intense fighting and were all breathing hard.

"They'll be upon us in just a few moments. How's the battle going down there?" He asked while stacking crates on top of each other.

"We've lost." Elissa's voice still full of rage and anger. Before Alistair could ask her to explain she continued. "Loghain never charged."

"What?" Alistair just looked at her with a lost expression. "Then... What should we do?" Lyna knew exactly what they should do. They were doomed, there was no changing that. The best they could make out of this situation was to take down as many darkspawn as they could before they went down themselves.

"We hold our ground as long as possible while we pray to the maker, the creators, the ancestors and the old gods for a miracle? One of them is bound to hear us." Daylen said, still trying to lighten up the mood. While Lyna wanted to tell him that this wasn't the time to make jokes she was glad that he had. While this wasn't how she had wanted to leave this world it was way she was getting.

"We'll trust out own abilities and kill as many of those bastards as possible." Elissa said with conviction. Lyna took her stand at the front together with Alistair and the two others while Elissa and Daylen stayed in the back. Daylen had fixed her leg somewhat but he had to save his mana for the battle ahead. Lyna could hear the footsteps and growl coming from underneath them. They got closer and closer and suddenly they started banging on the door. The growls and shield banging got louder as they found the door to be blocked and their anger intensified. It didn't take long before they had managed to create a gap large enough for them to fit through and one after one they started flooding the room. Alistair and the two soldiers formed a wall of shields which let Lyna and Elissa pick off the darkspawn one after one. Despite the situation they were in, Lyna was happy to finally be able to fight the creatures she had been dragged out of her clan to fight. She kept stabbing all the darkspawn that Alistair and the others couldn't contain and every now and then she felt Daylen's magic wash over her. Spells that healed cuts and bruises or replenished her stamina. While she felt like she could go on fighting till the end of time she knew that his mana would soon be gone and then they would slowly but surely be worn down by the darkspawn. A horrible battle-cry suddenly hit them as a giant darkspawn in massive armor charged them. It was easily a head taller than Alistair and simply bashed the Warden out of his path. One of the soldiers tried to flank it but got cut down before anyone could react. Meanwhile, more darkspawn kept pouring into the room now that the shield wall was mostly gone. They would have to get rid of that big one before they could anything else.

"Daylen, can you use your magic to hold him?" She shouted back at the mage while slicing the throat of a darkspawn that had tried to sneak up on her.

"Maybe but I'm not used to that sort of magic. I would be more useless than usual if I tried."

"Try it anyway!" Elissa shouted from the other side of the room. "It has some weak points in its armor but it's moving way too fast for me to hit them." Daylen nodded as he closed his eyes and Lyna could feel the presence of magic being formed around him once more. This time it felt more dark as this was magic with the intent to take life and not give it. The big darkspawn had just finished off the last soldier and was looking around for a new target when it suddenly froze. It looked like it was being crushed by invisible chains and it didn't take long before an arrow suddenly found it's home in the small gap underneath it's helmet. The big darkspawn fell motionless to the ground and the Wardens cleared out the darkspawn that had made their way into the room. The darkspawn were entering the room in smaller numbers now and Lyna silently hoped that they had somehow managed to win the battle. That thought was quickly crushed as she heard footsteps that came from something much bigger than normal darkspawn. Alistair had quickly briefed them about what kinds of darkspawn that existed and the roars that came from below followed by the whole tower shaking could only mean one thing.

"Ogre!" Alistair yelled as a beast which almost had to come to a crawl to fit through the now smashed door frame entered the room. Great horns and teeth almost the size of her hands faced her. Eyes that screamed for blood scanned the room and it let out a roar that shook her very core. Elissa quickly finished off the last normal-sized darkspawn, which didn't look nearly as intimidating as it had earlier, and started yelling order at the group of Wardens.

"Spread out! Don't take any risks and only strike when you're sure you can get away without being mauled to death!" They quickly followed the order, Daylen slower than the rest as his stamina was completely drained after that last spell. Elissa started firing arrows towards its head, trying to hit the eyes. Alistair was shouting insults at while banging his shield, trying to hold its attention. Lyna snuck around the edges of the room, trying to find a good opportunity to strike. The ogre roared again and chose Alistair as its first target, slamming down one of its massive fists towards the man who had to throw himself to the side in order to avoid getting crushed. An arrow planted itself in the creature's neck but it only made it more angry. Elissa was now the beast's target and it charged across the room towards the woman who still had not regained full mobility in her left leg. Lyna rushed from her hiding spot and drove her daggers into the back of the ogre. It quickly lost focus of Elissa and started trying to get rid of the elf on its back. Lyna saw from where she was hanging on that Alistair was once again entering the fight.

"I'm still standing you big, fat oaUF-" His taunt got cut short as the ogre smashed one of it's fist right into the shield Alistair was holding infront of him. The man got thrown across the room and that was all Lyna could see before the beast started thrashing around trying to get rid of her once again. She used her daggers to hold on as she made her way further up the back of the creature. It calmed down and started trying to reach her with its arms but an arrow hit it right in one of its eyes before it could grab her. Lyna realised that she wasn't far off from the place where the arrow had landed and threw a glare towards Elissa who stood there all out of arrows.

"I wasn't going to miss from this distance." She said with a voice full of confidence that erased all negative thoughts Lyna had started building up towards her. She made sure she wasn't going to fall of and took her daggers out of the beast's back and quickly drove them back into the skull of the ogre. It let out a roar of pain this time and fell to the floor. She took the daggers out and jumped off its back and looked around to see if everyone was alright. Elissa was without a weapon and clearly exhausted from all the non-stop fighting. Daylen was still unable to stand up, both his mana and stamina depleted. Alistair was on the ground groaning and sounding like he had difficulty breathing. She started making her way over to him when growls could once again be heard from the entrance.

"I wish they could at least let us catch our breath." Daylen said as he tried standing back up, only to be shot down again by an arrow. Lyna quickly evaded another arrow that was heading for her this time and took cover behind the ogre corpse. In the corner of her eye she saw Elissa get shot down by a couple of arrows as well and she felt all the hope she had managed to build up leave her. She took a firm grip of her daggers and listened for the growls that were getting closer. She would not go down quietly or easily. She cut down the first darkspawn that dared show it's ugly face over the corpse and started evading the stabs and swings from the rest of the darkspawn that followed. There were at least ten of them and she knew she would never be able to finish them all off on her own. A roar far greater than any ogre suddenly filled the room as Lyna got hit over the head with a blunt object and her world suddenly turned black.

* * *

Daylen stood watching the tadpoles swimming around in the small pond. Listening to the different sounds of the forest. Or at least he was trying to, it was like all life that were capable of running away had done so. They were probably smart enough to run away when they felt the darkspawn approaching he thought. These tadpoles couldn't run away and would soon be under attack from the darkspawn. That is if the darkspawn thought this pond to be a good strategic location. Behind him he heard a door opened and the clear aura of magic coming towards him. He slowly turned his head around just to make sure and his eyes were rewarded with the sight of Morrigan. The witch and her mother who had somehow managed to save them from the tower and were now treating their wounds. Elissa was still out cold though and Daylen was a bit happy to know that he wouldn't be waking up last this time. He also wondered what Morrigan and her mother would demand as payment. He was silently hoping that this wonderful creature walking towards him would demand him to become his personal slave, he could live with that.

"The last friend of yours has awoken. I told her to meet us out front once she got dressed." So that meant that Elissa was now in the world of the living as well. "I must say that tis' most surprising to see you all on your feet after only two days. I would've expected your recovery time to take longer than that." Daylen flashed her a big smile.

"It'll take more than that to kill us off." He said as he puffed his chest, trying to look as heroic as possible. "I was barely scratched and only if I had some more mana potioOOOO-" Morrigan had stuck a finger to the place where the arrow had pierced him and the pain was unbearable.

"I was mostly talking about the others. Your injury was something that could be blocked out mentally easily enough." She turned and started walking around the shack that belonged to Morrigan and her mother. Daylen thought back to the day before where he had awoken and seen Morrigan look down at him and he had thought he was dead and simply enjoying a pleasant afterlife. After he had closed them to block out the light for a moment he had reopened them and met the wrinkled face of her mother. Suddenly the dream had turned into a nightmare and it took a couple of minutes and Lyna assuring him that they were still alive before he had calmed down. The elf in question was in some sort of conversation with Alistair and the nightmare. As Morrigan told them Elissa was awake the relief in their faces were clear.

"Thank the maker." Alistair quietly said. "I don't know if I could take any more bad news."

"You better get used to them soon, young man. They'll be more and more common in the coming days." Morrigan's mother said in that disturbing voice she had. That also reminded Daylen about something.

"I know that that it's quite late but we never asked your name."

"But you have already given me a name, young mage." Daylen raised an eyebrow to indicate that he didn't understand what she meant. She let out a cackling laugh and continued. "Earlier today you referred to me as 'nutty old bat' when speaking with this other young man here." Daylen felt himself blush as he had no idea she had overheard that. Morrigan simply laughed so at least something good had come out of his embarrassment. "To answer your question, some people call me Flemeth." Daylen shouldn't be surprised by now but he couldn't help it. He had read about the famous witch of the wilds in the library in the tower and this nutty old bat in front of him was that very person.

"Asha Bellanar?" Lyna asked to which Flemeth nodded.

"That is what your people call me, I don't care which one you use. Names are pretty but useless."

"If you are the Flemeth of the legends then you must be very old and powerful." Alistair said, with a voice that was still full of sadness as it had been ever since he woke up last night. "Couldn't you have done something against the darkspawn?"

"Not against a darkspawn army of that size, young man. I did what I could and saved the four of you."

"And what can we do? Four Wardens alone against the blight?" A hint of frustration had snuck into his voice now.

"Oh you are hardly alone." Flemeth laughed which left Alistair confused.

"What do you mean?"

"She means the treaties." Elissa said as she exited the shack. Daylen couldn't help but be impressed by her. Two days of being on the verge of death and here she was, determined and focused as ever.

"Clever girl. You can learn a lot from her, young man."

"Doesn't Loghain still have his forces?" Daylen asked which earned him a glare from both Elissa and Alistair. He suddenly realised that he had not thought that through.

"Forces he still have after he ignored the signal and left everyone to die? Yes he should still have those." Elissa said as she turned back towards Flemeth. "The treaties are back at camp though which is overrun by darkspawn by now I'm guessing?" Flemeth simply smiled in return.

"Already taken cared of." She gave Morrigan a glance and the younger witch went into the shack and quickly returned with the treaties. "And before you, young man, start going on about us being thieves again. Morrigan retrieved these last night when she went scouting Ostagar." Alistair did look like he was about to accuse them once again but decided to keep his mouth shut after Flemeth's words.

"Did you see any survivors?" Elissa asked Morrigan.

"Stragglers, but they were few and far between." Daylen felt his mood go down, he was still hoping that Duncan and Marcus had somehow made it out. "If you're asking because of those three other Wardens that were with you last time you visited, I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Two of them were already gone before the battle." Lyna quietly said. The overall mood went down again as everyone was reminded of all the people that had lost their lives. Well, the mood of the Wardens went down at least. Flemeth was impossible to read and Morrigan seemed uninterested.

"So... What's the plan?" Daylen asked, deciding to chance the subject.

"We'll go to the mages tower, the dwarves and the dalish and demand their support against the blight." Elissa said.

"We should also go to Redcliffe." Alistair added, Elissa gave him a questioning look to which he continued. "Arl Eamon wasn't at Ostagar and he's a good man. Once we tell him what has happened he'll help us." Daylen didn't like the sound of Redcliffe or the tower. Tower for obvious reasons and Redcliffe because of how close it was to said tower.

"Okay, We'll add Redcliffe to the list as well." Elissa declared. Daylen was a bit surprised that Alistair just let her lead like this. He was the senior Warden and probably older than the woman yet still followed her command. Elissa was a good leader though so Daylen had no problems with her making the decisions. "And if we run into Loghain on the way we take him out." She added with a growl that reminded Daylen just how scary this woman could be.

"So can we actually do this?" Alistair asked, clearly uncertain of the chances of success in their quest. "Go to all these places and raise an army?"

"We don't have much choice, do we?" Daylen said. "Unless we can go and get help from the Wardens in other countries?"

"Maybe..." Alistair answered with a hand on his chin deep in thought. "The Wardens from Orlais were supposed to join us at Ostagar but Loghain kept objecting to that idea."

"We'll focus on the treaties first." Elissa said as she started walking back towards the shack. "Grab your gear everyone, we'll move out soon and head towards Lothering to resupply." She stopped halfway and turned towards Flemeth and Morrigan. "Thank you both, we owe you our lives." A comment which surprised the two witches.

"Oh don't mention it, young woman. Without Grey Wardens we would be doomed as well."

"Is there any way we can pay you back?" Lyna asked.

"Just keep Morrigan safe in your travels, that'll be enough." Time stopped for everyone present, they all just stared at the nutty old bat. "Oh ho ho, didn't I mention? Morrigan is coming with you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_A/N - This chapter wasn't supposed to be this long but it just felt too rushed in certain areas so I extended it. Apologies if it feels a bit 'forced' in some parts. Quick thanks to the people following and a special thanks to Gufetto and Apollo Wings, seeing people guess what's gonna happen next in the story is quite entertaining._

* * *

Elissa sat by the small campfire in the middle of the wilds. They had made good progress from when they left Flemeth's hut and if she wasn't wrong they would be in Lothering early the day after tomorrow. She was preparing the dinner she and Lyna had hunted down. The poor wild boar had barely stood a chance against the two of them. Lyna and Alistair was sitting by the campfire but no one was speaking. You could still see that Alistair was hit hard by depression and Elissa couldn't blame him. She had seen the way he had looked at Duncan, it was the same eyes Elissa had used when seeing her father. Her father that she would now never see again. The man was acting exactly like Elissa had acted after they fled Castle Cousland. Her depression stopped once they ran into Marcus though as that depression switched to anger. Anger towards not someone who deserved it but someone who was close by. She felt sad to think about how Marcus had left this world just as the two of them had started to actually get along. She knew he wasn't the heartless bastard she had told others he were and she understood that people might want to keep their pasts hidden from others. Maker knows she wanted to.

"I _will_ breach that wall of hers one day!" Daylen declared as he came walking back from Morrigans tent which she had put up by the outskirts of their camp. "Trust me when I say that she's only playing hard-to-get."

"You're gonna need a bigger siege ram for that wall." Lyna said, leaving him speechless.

"Was... Was that a dirty joke, Lyna?" The mage managed to get out. The elf simply shrugged and went back to mending her armor. Daylen sat down next to Elissa and took a deep sniff of the boar that was coming along nicely.

"That smells so good, I've had this hunger for something other than Morrigan these last couple of hours." Elissa just quietly nodded, only half listening to the man as she was still deep in thought about what had happened to all the people at Ostagar. Her brother, Fergus, was out scouting when the battle took place. Would he still be alive somewhere? "Also..." Daylen said in a quiet more serious voice which forced Elissa out of her thoughts. "Loghain's right hand woman, Cauthrien..." She knew what Daylen was trying to ask.

"I don't know if she supported Loghain's choice to retreat and I don't really care at this point." In reality she did care. The two women used to get along well and her doing something like this was just unthinkable. Cauthrien was loyal to Loghain but she was just as loyal to Ferelden. Leaving half the army on the battlefield to do wasn't something she would do. Daylen seemed to notice her reluctance to discuss it further and instead went off to pester Lyna instead. Elissa went back to watching the boar bring roasted over the fire, wasn't the largest one she's seen but it would at least fill this group up.

"Do you think anyone made it out?" The eldest Warden suddenly asked her from across the fire in a quiet voice.

"Maybe people who were far back in the battle, like the mages." She said after deciding not to mention that chances are that no one on the front lines stood a chance. "Then there's always Loghain, he made it out." She spat out his name. He would answer for what he had done just as Howe would. Were they working together? Alistair went quiet once again, he would need time before he went back to that cheerful man he had been before this whole mess. Morrigan suddenly sat down next to the fire, startling Elissa who had not noticed the witch approach. "You want supper as well, Morrigan?" She asked after feeling uneasy from the silence.

"I've just managed to finish mine after that fool finally stopped showering me with questions."

"I'm simply curious to how someone like you could be the daughter of someone like your mother." Daylen said after his attention had switched over to Morrigan. Elissa had to admit, Flemeth looked way too old to be the mother to someone like Morrigan who seemed to be around her own age.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" The witch asked with narrowed eyes.

"That your so called 'mother' is an ugly, horrendous, smelly old hag while you're... not." The witch simply stared at the mage for a few moments before she turned her attention back to Elissa.

"Ignoring the fool for now, I was merely curious as to which guard shift is mine?"

"I would like the first one, I'm nowhere near sleep." Elissa said after feeling the effects of sleeping for more than a day.

"Very well, I'll take the one after you then." And with that Morrigan went back to her own camp. Things went quiet for a while as Elissa was handing out different bits and pieces of the boar to the hungry ones in the group. They were all eating away to the sounds of Daylen bombarding Lyna with questions about her tattoos before Alistair spoke up again.

"What if they lied?" Everyone's eyes went on him as they waited for him to elaborate, which he never did.

"You're gonna have to be more specific." Elissa said.

"I mean, what if Morrigan and her mother are lying to us? That what if we're right now walking away from Wardens or soldiers that are making their last stand at Ostagar?"

"You saw the horde Alistair." Lyna said with a hint of irritation. "Maybe some of them managed to hold them for the first day but not for two days straight."

"But what if som-"

"It still wouldn't matter! The darkspawn has won this battle and unless we want them to win the war we have to gather what allies we can and hit them back once we're strong enough!" Lyna almost yelled as she stood up, dropping her share of the food to the ground. Alistair just sat across the fire staring up her, looking like a frightened deer cornered in the forest against a hunter. "That which doesn't kill only makes you stronger. We've been given another chance and you wish to throw it away by simply rushing back and getting yourself killed? Is that what the Wardens would've wanted? Is that what Duncan would've wanted!?" Alistair's expression quickly changed to one of anger. He remained somewhat calm and quietly excused himself and went into his tent. Lyna didn't sit back down until he was out of sight. No one dared say anything from that point and even Daylen remained quiet for a change. Elissa hoped that all this bad blood would be left behind in the forest once they made it to Lothering.

* * *

Only half a day away from Lothering, that's what Hawke had said half a day ago. Judging by the stars they had moved in such a slow pace that it was almost like they had not moved at all. They were now having a quick rest next to a river which they had stumbled upon. A river that had reminded Marcus of how much of a detour they were taking in order to be sure not to run into any darkspawn or bandits. Bandits which he had refused to hunt down and kill when they had been on their way to Ostagar. This had really came back and bit him in the ass. A loud grunt switched his focus to the man who had his wounds treated to by the man's sister. The Hawke siblings were close which was the reason why they had literally been forced to drag Carver out of Ostagar because of his condition. Any sane person would've left him behind since he was going to die either way but Marcus had for some reason aided Hawke in prolonging her brother's death. It would've been a quicker and less painful death if he had remained at Ostagar, there were plenty of darkspawn that would be happy to 'help' him there. Maybe even the dragon could've sent him to his Maker. The dragon, Flemeth, who had attacked The Tower of Ishal. What could she have to gain by killing the few Wardens that actually had a chance of surviving that battle? Daylen, Elissa, Lyna and Alistair would've had plenty of time to flee once they noticed the army getting overrun but now they were gone as well. Shame, they were good people.

"He seems to be in more and more pain by the minute." An empty voice said as Hawke sat down next to Marcus. The woman looked tired and broken. Considering she was slowly losing a family member and had not had a good night's sleep since they had been on the run for over two days. Run might be the wrong word, they had been on the crawl for over two days. She didn't say anything else after that, was she hoping to get some assurance that her brother would make it from Marcus? He could not lie when it was so obvious he wouldn't make it through the day. They were still a day from Lothering if they kept this pace and Carver could barely hold down his water lately.

"You should eat." Marcus simply said as he handed the rest of the rabbit he had managed to catch with the dagger Hawke had given him. His spear was back at Ostagar, stuck to the corpse of one of the ogres that had ended Duncan's and the king's lives. Once their lifeless bodies had been confirmed by the soldiers everything had quickly fallen apart. Everyone had retreated in different directions and it had taken him and Hawke less than a second to agree on that a retreat was the best course of action as well. Their retreat had not been easy though with them having to carry another person and the slash Marcus had gotten still had not been taken cared of. It was getting infected and he would need a healer to have a look at it.

"I should..." Hawke simply stated. Not accepting the half-eaten rabbit Marcus was offering her. He had no idea on how to deal with a situation like this. It had been the same with the group of Warden recruits. Most of them had lost something and were trying to deal with it in different ways. Elissa had turned to anger and taken it out on him. Lyna had chosen not to speak of it at all and tried to fool everyone else that she was fine. Hawke now had not even lost her brother yet and it was like she had given up on life even before Carver had drawn his last breath. "He's not gonna make it to Lothering, is he?" The question caught Marcus by surprise, he was not expecting it one bit. Part of him wanted to try and bring some sort of hope back into the woman but that would be cruel. The other part of him wanted to tell her like it was, her brother would be dead within hours and there's no point bringing yourself down any more than you already are. Not reaching a conclusion of what to say he simply remained silenced, the coward's way out. Hawke seemed to understand what his real answer was though as she got up and walked back to her brother. Marcus was guessing that this break would be a bit longer than what they had agreed on so he started to remove his armor to try and clean the wound as best he could. The next couple of hours was spent in silence with Hawke simply sitting by her brother and every now and then calming him by reassuring that the pain would soon go away or that he would meet father again soon. Telling him that she, their sister and their mother would be fine and he didn't have to apologise for anything. Marcus gave up trying to clean out the wound and slowly ate the last of the rabbit which had been denied by the woman. Before long, Hawke made her way back to the log and sat down next to Marcus again. He could feel that they were the only two living people in that clearing at the moment and felt sorry for the woman next to him. "I'm sorry... I believed he would make it and... we could get help at Lothering... If I had acted faster or kept him away..." Marcus had to stop her apologising to him or she would become even more hollow if she somehow started blaming herself for her brother's death.

"Don't blame yourself, you did everything you could." He wanted to say something that would hold a bit more power behind it but he was not trained for situations like this. The times he had lost someone close to him he had dealt with it by venting his feelings in combat or training.

"No, I dragged you into this as well. You took a great risk by helping me get Carver out of Ostagar in his condition." She still refused to cry. If she started Marcus would be at a complete loss on what to do.

"I took a risk but it was by my own choice. If I had wanted to leave you two behind I would but I chose not to." That might've came out a bit harsh. But choosing which words to use and when to use them was difficult. Hawke went deep into thought and Marcus decided to try and put this whole thing behind them sooner rather than later. "How do you... deal with the bodies of the departed down here in Ferelden?"

"Pyre." She said calmly without taking her eyes off the forest in front of her. Marcus decided to leave it at that and went off to make the tiny fire they had started grow a bit. It took a couple of before Hawke went over to help him and with the combined effort of the two they had a big enough pyre going in just a couple of minutes. They had long since stripped the armor of Carver to make him easier to carry so all they had to do was move the body. As they watched the fire Marcus lost track of time. He started thinking of all the people at Ostagar that would never be this lucky to have some sort of ceremony for their lifeless bodies. As the fire started to die down Hawke said in a low voice. "Farewell Carver..." And started walking in the direction in which they were heading when there were still three of them. Marcus made a quick salute which was the norm in The Anderfels and started following the woman north. After getting her to Lothering he would need to restock and think of a plan B. A grunt escaped his mouth as the shoulder started burning again, this injury had to be dealt with first of all. "Your shoulder still hurting?" Hawke asked as they were now walking next to each other.

"Yeah, will need to find a healer in Lothering." Hawke once again disappeared into a deep thought.

"I might know one as long as you promise not to throw her away to the templars." She said with a smirk, an apostate then.

"I would have no reason to. If she can heal me I would be most grateful." Hawke nodded and they went back to walking in silence for a while before she broke it again.

"Why did you choose to help me and my brother?" A question Marcus was unsure of himself.

"Where I grew up you get taught to value strength above all else. I simply thought that it would've been such a waste for the two of you to die at Ostagar." Was the answer he went with. It hadn't been a lie but he still felt something had been left unsaid.

"Hahaha!" She suddenly started laughing, a complete switch to how she had been acting for the last couple of hours. Even the last couple of days. "Wow, you suddenly know how to make a girl feel special." She said as she wiped tears from her eyes. Marcus guessed that would be as close to crying as she would get. And what had she meant by what she said? While Marcus had an idea he had hoped that he was wrong.

* * *

It was early afternoon and the group of Wardens and witch was making their way through the forest. Last night had created a rift between two people in said group so no one had spoken more than a few words since they woke up. Lyna was leading the group through the forest with Elissa right behind her. The two mages were walking side-by-side although Morrigan made several attempts at keeping a different pace to the other mage but failing. The occasional curse or sigh didn't scare off Daylen either. Alistair was walking in the back still as depressed as he had been when he had woken up in after the battle. Lyna still felt a bit of the anger she had vented the night before. Everyone had to make sacrifices and everyone just had to deal with them for now. The darkspawn won't care if you've lost your loved ones. While it sounded harsh, grief would have to wait until after the war. This group of four Wardens had also survived when they should've fallen. They had been given a chance of turning this war around and Alistair was simply throwing it away for his own emotional problems.

"What happened last night?" Elissa suddenly whispered from next to Lyna. Slightly startled, which she would never admit, she whispered back so it could remain a personal conversation.

"I simply think that Alistair is being unfair." She whispered back.

"How so and to who?"

"To you, me and everyone that has ever lost someone." She said as she quickly checked their surroundings for any threats. She had gotten more paranoid after Ostagar she noticed. "People grieve is different ways but what Alistair is doing right now is putting us all in danger. I'm actually really glad that you've taken the leader role since he would just lead us back to Ostagar, right into our deaths."

"I know what you're saying, but you can't really blame him. From what I gathered Duncan was some sort of father-figure to him."

"And your father wasn't?" Lyna regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She shamefully looked down on the ground, not brave enough to look the other woman in the eyes. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to say." Thankfully, Elissa once again proved to be a good-hearted human.

"It's fine, I know you didn't say it to be mean." Lyna felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder. "But it's as you say, people grieve in different ways. I had Marcus to vent my anger at, for example." She said with a small giggle but Lyna could hear that it had quite a bit of sadness in it as well. She had managed to keep Marcus off her mind for the most part of the day. It felt unreal, he was supposed to be with this group. Not dead on some battlefield together with thousands of other soldiers. "What I'm saying is that you can trust me to not lead us straight into the darkspawn as long as you promise to make an effort in understanding that Alistair is going through some things right now." Elissa had a point, Lyna calmly nodded and felt the hand leave her shoulder. They kept walking for hours, Lyna was determined to reach Lothering early tomorrow so they could put as much distance as possible between them and the darkspawn. At least until they had managed to gather an army to watch their back. Elissa seemed to be under the same idea and pushed the group hard through the forest. After quite a few complaints from Daylen about 'sore feet' they decided to find a camp site for the night. If Lyna was correct they were only a few hours from Lothering but traveling during the night in these woods isn't the best idea. As they were searching for a good spot Lyna's eyes caught something that nature didn't create by itself. Daylen noticed it as well.

"Umm, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that..."

"A pyre, yes." Elissa finished for him.

"And how unusual is it to see one in the middle of the forest? Did elves make it?"

"We bury our dead." Lyna said as she got closer to the burnt out pyro. It was still somewhat warm and you could still the faintest hint of smoke rising from it. Whoever made it made it very recently.

"So that rules out the elves. Does the chasind bury their dead as well?"

"Why do you ask _me_ that, you blubbering fool?" Morrigan didn't seem that interested about the whole situation and made her way over to the stream to fill her water pouch. Daylen quickly went after her, was quite entertaining watching him follow her around like a dog. Lyna turned her attention back at the pyre.

"Who do you think made it?" She asked Elissa who had moved up the pyre alongside her.

"I'm more interested in who it's for." Realisation suddenly hit Lyna. This pyre was made because someone had died very recently and it couldn't have been far away from here. "Lothering isn't far away but I highly doubt they would venture this far into the woods to build a pyre for someone."

"You're saying that it's been made by people who were just passing through?" Lyna asked even though she already knew where Elissa was going.

"That means people managed to escape Ostagar." Alistair suddenly spoke up, voice sounding more alive than it had for quite some time.

"Seems like it, doesn't look like they all manage to survive afterwards though." Elissa said in a sad voice as she looked at the pyre. "The ones still alive are probably heading towards Lothering as well. We should set camp now and head for the town early tomorrow morning." They all agreed and set up camp at a respectable distance to the still warm pyre, the mood a lot brighter now knowing that people made it out of the disastrous battle.

* * *

Daylen still believed this to be the best feeling in the world. After days of walking through the forest, after days of tripping over roots and getting branches smacked into his face he finally had solid stone under his feet once again. Lothering could be spotted in the distance and the first thing he would do was find inn they had been in last time they passed through and drink until he forgot the burdens set upon them. He would also try and get Morrigan drunk enough to not shoot down all his advancements. Knowing the witch it would take quite a few drinks before she was drunk enough for that. Daylen didn't mind though, he liked a challenge. Looking in front of him he saw that beautiful creature walking a couple of feet ahead of him. He would usually use all of his power to maintain the same pace as her so he could walk next to her. But now he had found out that watching her rear was nice as well. A sound of armor getting adjusted reminded him that Alistair was walking behind him. The man had looked to feel so much better when they woke up this morning after finding out people had survived Ostagar. Morrigan had turned that completely around when she said that they did not know who the man on the pyre was and for all they know it could be the man they least hoped it would be. Alistair had fallen back to his moody state right afterwards. Morrigan had a point though and Daylen hoped it wasn't Marcus or Duncan on that pyre. Dying this far north from Ostagar from what they could guess was injuries received in the battle must've been a painful and slow death.

"There are some people up ahead." Lyna suddenly called out to the group from where she was together with Elissa at the front of the party. Daylen focused his eyes and saw that there indeed seemed to be people up ahead hard at work with something. He had a bad feeling about this for some reason.

"Don't act hostile but keep your weapons ready." Elissa told the group as they walked towards the unknown silhouettes. As they got closer Daylen found out why his mind had been sending him warning signals.

"Ugh, templars." Morrigan said with disgust. Were they looking for him? And actually, even if they did it wouldn't matter. He's a Grey Warden now, they can't touch him. One of the templars moved up to meet them and Daylen could now see that they were moving bodies of dead bandits. Or maybe they were highwaymen, he couldn't tell them apart really.

"I advise you to move along, friends. Lothering is full, there are hardly any food to come by and you'll be forced to sleep standing if you stay the night."

"We're only passing through, don't worry." Elissa said as she met the man halfway. "What's happened here? I thought you templars only hunted apostates?" Damn it Elissa, don't remind them!

"These days we have the darkspawn to worry about." Daylen had to thank the next darkspawn he ran across. Anything to keep the templars focused on something other than him is a good thing. "Besides, we can't take any credit for this." The templar said as he motioned with his arm the several dead bodies scattered over the road. Daylen counted five of them.

"Who killed them?"

"I didn't see it personally but... Ser Maron!" He called for one of the other templars who came over with the bandit weapons over one of his shoulders. "Who was it that did this? You met them briefly when they reported to Ser Bryant, didn't you?"

"Yeah, it was a man and a woman. They both looked quite ragged and I'm surprised they managed to do all this in the state they were in."

"What more can you tell us about them?" Elissa asked the new templar. As the other one went back to clean up the mess that apparently this man and woman had caused.

"Well... not much else I can tell you, sorry." Daylen thought it sounded like the templar was keeping a secret from them, he wasn't going to question a templar though.

"But there is something else to tell us, isn't there?" Luckily, Elissa was a smart woman.

"Ser Bryant made us swear to keep it as much of a secret as possible."

"Please, we're Grey Wardens and if there's anyone els-" Alistair tried to convince the templar before he got interrupted.

"Wait, you're Wardens as well?" Daylen was baffled that this templar might be even more stupid than him.

"So they are Wardens?" Elissa said with her arms crossed. She turned towards the group. "Alright, we need to find these two. Come on!"

"Wait!" The templar said as he tried putting his hands up in front of him. This only made him drop all the weapons he had collected. "Fine, it's true that the man was a Warden. But you have to know something since I'm guessing the news hasn't reached you yet."

"Spit it out already." Elissa said in a irritated voice while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Teyrn Loghain has declared all Wardens traitors." Well, that was unexpected. They all had shocked expressions except Morrigan who looked bored as usual.

"He's the damn traitor!" Alistair yelled forcing Lyna to calm him down. If they really were branded as traitors then laying low would be important.

"We don't know what exactly happened but Ser Bryant didn't believe the rumors about the Wardens leading the king to his death. Which is why he offered to keep quiet about the other Warden being here." He started to gather all the weapons again. "I suggest you take our advice and simply restock what you need and get on your way."

"What of our Warden brother?" Daylen asked, hoping it would turn out to be either Marcus or Duncan. "Where is he right now?" The templar simply shrugged.

"I don't know. He said something about an injury and needing to restock but that was hours ago. I would bet he's still in Lothering at least."

"What did he look like?" Lyna asked, having calmed Alistair down.

"Like an armored beggar?" When seeing that the group had no time for jokes he continued more seriously. "Uhm, quite tall but not overly muscular. Brown hair but it might have had a hint of blonde in it, was difficult to say with how dirty he looked." The templar thought for a moment before continuing. "He was also not Fereldan but I'm not good enough with accents to say where he was from exactly." They all looked at each other, it had to be Marcus. Daylen wanted to jump of joy.

"Let's go." Elissa said as she went down the ramp towards the town. "Where would you guys guess we could find him?"

"Inn!"

"Find Marcus, not you." Lyna jokingly told Daylen.

"If he's been talking with the templars already I guess that rules out the chantry. I think we should try the trader or, as Daylen said, the inn."

"I have a question, if I may?" Morrigan asked the group earning her surprised looks all around. She had shown little interest in what had happened during the last few minutes. "This man, Marcus, came directly from the battle at Ostagar. Am I correct?" They all nodded, unsure where she was going with this. "Then what are the odds of him having the gold or even silver to restock what he would need to make any significant journey?" Daylen had to admit, she had a point. A very good point. Marcus wouldn't be able to afford any of the gear he would need unless he somehow managed to stumble upon a treasure on the way here.

"Chantry board then?" Daylen asked. "Remember that story he told us? Maybe he's doing something similar this time?"

"Let's split up." Elissa said. "Alistair and Lyna, go check the chantry board for any quests that might have caught his attention. Morrigan and Daylen, follow me to the inn. We'll ask around discreetly and see if anyone know where Marcus is." She earned some glares from Morrigan and Lyna who were probably questioning the men they had been paired with but they all obeyed and so the now smaller group headed for the familiar inn. Once they had crossed the bridge Daylen decided to ask why the pairings had ended like this.

"Don't know if you've noticed but Lyna and Alistair don't really get along at the moment."

"And I don't get along with this fool." Morrigan sighed from where she was walking behind them.

"Exactly, which is why I'm forcing everyone to get along." Elissa calmly stated.

"Don't know if you remember but you and Marcus didn't exactly try and talk it out when you were at each others throats." Daylen said as he smirked towards the woman.

"But once we were forced to work together we managed to put our differences aside." She simply smirked back, Daylen couldn't argue with that. He also couldn't since they had arrived at the inn and a familiar smell creeped out of the building. Cooked food, Daylen was going to get some of that! That goal quickly vanished since the door suddenly burst open and a soldier came flying out and landed in front of the group. His nose bloody and his eyes distant, he looked like he would faint at any second. Shouting and screams could be heard from inside the tavern and Elissa motioned for the two mages to remain calm. Grey Wardens or not, magic always brought fear to some people. They were just about to move inside when another soldier ran into them and Daylen could see the fear in his eyes as the man quickly ran away from the inn.

"And don't come back!" A familiar woman with short black hair poked her head out of the door, shouting after the fleeing soldier. She looked like she had been fighting non-stop for the last few days. She quickly noticed Daylen and the others and her eyes grew twice as large. "It's you!" She turned her back to them before they could speak a word and shouted back into the inn. "Hey Marcus! Your friends are here!" Shortly after the man who had been part of their original group walked through the entrance. The man who they had thought to be dead until only a few minutes ago was standing right in front of them. The two parties simply stared at each other for a few moments before Daylen decided to break the silence.

"You look horrible, Marcus." The man simply smiled back.

"At least I can fix my ugliness with a bath." He retorted.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_A/N - This was a lot more difficult to write than I would've thought. Hopefully it'll get easier with practice. I'm also considering revisiting older chapter sometime in the future once I get better at this to make some slight changes. Not to the story but to how it's written. My vocabulary is limited and I like to blame it on english not being my main language but that's really no excuse. Again, thanks for follows and double-thanks for reviews, I like seeing those the most. Keep on making guesses on how the story will play out!_

* * *

The chantry board had been useless. The few quests and tasks that remained were either not worth the time with the low pay or the pay wasn't worth the long time. Lyna had decided that she and Alistair should head to the inn and try and meet up with the others again. They were having some difficulty navigating this town though. Alistair said that he had only passed through without stopping on his way to Ostagar and Lyna thought all the buildings looked the same. She had been here just over a week ago and she was hopelessly lost. Elissa had said that it wasn't even that large of a town when they passed through here last time. She was not going to admit she was lost though.

"You don't know where the inn is, do you?" Lyna was certainly not going to let this man let her know she was lost.

"I know exactly in which direction I'm going." Which wasn't a lie, she knew they were walking westwards.

"Is is the direction which will take us to the inn?" She wasn't looking at him but she could feel him smirking. The bastard had stopped sulking once they found out that a Warden had survived and was back to his old ways. They came upon a bridge which looked familiar, they can't be far away from the inn now. Just as they crossed it a soldier bumped into her, throwing her to the ground.

"Hey!" She called after him but he simply kept on running.

"He looked scared out of his mind. Think something happened?" Alistair said as he offered her a hand. Lyna took it and dusted herself off, throwing one last angry glare at the solider who was quickly running out of view.

"Let's go find out, I doubt there's anything major since he seems to be the only one running away." They walked the path the soldier had come from and noticed a cluster of people in front of a large building. That's the inn they had been looking for, but what had happened? Did the other part of their group get into a fight? They made their way through the crowd and could see a man with a broken and bloody nose lying on the ground, unconscious. The crowd was slowly dispersing so whatever had happened here was over.

"What's going on?" Alistair asked a older man who was at the front of the crowd.

"Them Loghain soldiers were inside the inn shouting about how the Grey Wardens had left the king to die or something." Loghain's soldiers? So the one running away had probably had a run-in with Elissa and the rest. That would mean that Loghain would soon know that several Wardens were still alive. "Was about to leave when that Hawke girl and some man who were here last week walked in. They got into some heated discussion with the soldiers and next thing you know punches were being thrown all over the place." Lyna had no idea who this 'Hawke' woman was but a man who had been here last week that got into a fight with Loghain's men? It must be either Marcus or Duncan.

"Who was the man?" Alistair asked.

"Dunno, never caught the lad's name. Anyway, so they're throwing punches and kicks around and next thing you know the soldiers bring out their swords and the two on the other side bring out their daggers." The old man chuckled as he looked down towards the man with the bloody nose on the ground. "Poor soldiers never stood a chance, three of them are dead inside, this one outside won't wake up for a while and the last one is gonna need a new pair of trousers." He said as he started walking away loudly laughing. Lyna and Alistair simply looked after him before turning towards the inn.

"You think they're still in there?" He asked.

"Even if they're not I bet Elissa and the others are." Lyna answered as she stepped over the man and walked into the inn. The smell that met her quite quickly confirmed that there had been a fight here only moments earlier. A fight with deadly outcome. She could see some trails of blood going from the middle of the inn into a storage room and one of the barmaids cleaning it up before it dries. Some patrons were still happily drinking away but it was a bit more empty than last time she was here. Which was to be expected of course since people had killed each other in here earlier. After a quick scan of the rest of the room she saw Morrigan standing next to a table. As Lyna walked over towards her she saw that Elissa and Daylen was sitting there as well together with a woman she had never seen before. And there next to the woman sat Marcus.

"Marcus?" She called out, a wave of relief washed over her as she found out one of her few human friends was alive and well.

"Hey Lyna, look who we found!" Daylen said as he turned to face her. "Turns out he just didn't like traveling with us so he went on ahead." Lyna couldn't help but smile at seeing their whole group back together, with some additions it seems.

"Considering you're in this group I am hardly surprised." Morrigan said as she looked around with the same bored expression she usually wore. Marcus seemed to ignore them as he stood up to greet her and Alistair.

"It's good to see the two of you alive as well. For a while I thought I was the last Warden in Ferelden." He said as he greeted Alistair with a quick shake and Lyna with a quick hug. She noticed that he was very careful with his movements.

"Are you injured somewhere?" She asked as that would be the only reasonable answer.

"Not anymore but you're sort of correct." He said as he sat back down. "Injured my shoulder pretty badly at Ostagar. Daylen fixed it just now but I'm still a bit sore."

"The plan had been to let my sister take a look at it but she's not home at the moment it seems." The unknown woman said, Lyna guessed that she had to be Hawke then. "And we haven't met, have we? I'm Marian Hawke, I escaped Ostagar together with Marcus." The woman shook Lyna's and Alistair's hands as Daylen spoke up again after failing to convince Morrigan that he was not the fool she believed him to be.

"That reminds me, what happened with your brother?"

"Can you try to think before you speak next time, Daylen?" Elissa asked angrily. "Her brother not being here can only mean one thing."

"It's okay." Hawke said quietly. "My brother was with us for the most part as we fled north."

"Don't tell me... That pyre we came across?" Daylen looked between Marcus and Hawke who just silently nodded. "I'm... I'm sorry." Hawke sighed as she leaned back in her chair.

"I haven't had the chance to tell my mother or sister yet. That conversation is going to be really uncomfortable."

"Did anyone else make it?" Alistair suddenly asked Marcus. Lyna knew what Alistair really wanted to know, had Duncan survived? Seems like Marcus realised that too.

"I'm sorry, Alistair." He simply answered, seems like this conversation was uncomfortable as well. Lyna was sad to hear that Duncan had died. The man had technically saved her life and she would always be grateful for that.

"Anyway, back to our previous conversation." Elissa said, bringing the group out of the unpleasant topic. "Seems like we might have to change some of our plans." Lyna and Alistair gave her questioning looks as they both sat down by the table. "Marcus just told us that Loghain has sent word to the border not to let any Wardens through. I had hoped we would be able to request help from the Orlesian Wardens but that option is out the window as long as Loghain is in power."

"Hold on, Loghain is in power?" Alistair asked.

"Apparently he has declared himself regent." Daylen answered as he motioned for a drink from one of the barmaids who were not busy with cleaning up the blood.

"It's only been a few days since Ostagar and it's like he's had this planned for quite some time." Elissa said with a hint of anger in her voice. "I'm also willing to bet that Howe had something to do with this as well." And that explains the anger.

"What was your original plan?" Lyna asked Marcus. Since he had not had the treaties he must've planned something other than what they did.

"Get to Orlais and hope the Wardens over there would act quickly. As the soldiers here told me that Wardens had been branded traitors and the borders were closed for our order, I honestly had no other plan to fall back on." He changed his expression to a smile. "But then I ran into you guys again and it seems like you got it all planned out." The barmaid handed over a mug to Daylen and he looked like a child who had recieved a brand new toy.

"So yeah, we're on our own for now. Alistair mentioned Redcliffe and Arl Eamon." Elissa said with a stern voice, reminding everyone that they needed to revisit their original plan. "With Loghain obviously being our enemy I don't know if I feel comfortable to visit another high ranking noble." Alistair noticeably tensed up.

"Are you saying Arl Eamon is a traitor as well?" He said almost with a growl.

"No, what I'm saying is that we should stay away from anything human right now until things calm down." Lyna nodded in agreement. If this Loghain had power and was after then they would need a powerful ally watching their backs. "I would suggest we go and use the dwarven or elven treaties." She turned towards the only elf in the group. "Where would we start looking if we wanted to find one of the dalish clans?" Lyna simply shrugged.

"I don't even know where my own clan would be at this time."

"That means we're going to Orzammar then." Elissa declared, making no room for any arguments even though Alistair clearly looked like he wanted to object. "Orzammar's several days away and we're going to try and avoid any major towns so be sure to restock properly." She turned towards Marcus. "You mentioned that you were going to set up some traps for some farmer's fields in order to get the coin you need?" Marcus nodded as he together with everyone else at the table stood up. Daylen noticing that he would be left behind unless he finished his drink began gulping it down. "Okay, Me and Lyna will help you with that so we can get out of Lothering faster. The rest of you are free to roam around but don't leave the town. We'll all meet at the western exit of town before sundown."

"Why ask Lyna and not me for help in setting up traps?" Daylen said as he did his best to sound hurt.

"Do you know anything about traps?" Elissa asked Lyna.

"Yes."

"Do _you_ know anything about traps?" Elissa asked Daylen.

"I... no..."

"Then I think it's for the best if you stay away from the traps which can chop off your hands." Elissa quickly looked through the group. "Alright, move out everyone." And with that they left the inn.

* * *

Daylen was walking away from the inn together with Morrigan and Alistair and quickly noticed something was wrong.

"Wait, where's Hawke?"

"She went with the other group for which I can't blame her." Morrigan answered while looking at a begging family with disgust. That look of disgust intensified when Alistair made his way over to drop a silver coin into their hands. "You do realise that our group is in the same desperate need of coin as them?" Alistair simply ignored her as they kept walking towards where the trader should be.

"Had hoped she would've come with us. It's not fair that Marcus gets to be with three beauties when I have to share Morrigan with Alistair." The sudden death glares from the other two could be felt from behind where Daylen was walking.

"Excuse me?" They both said at the same time.

"I really don't want to share anything with this witch." Alistair said, looking as disgusted as Morrigan had looked when she saw those beggars.

"I have no intention to be shared by you two fools."

"I was merely joking, why would I be jealous of Marcus with his three pearls when I have a diamond right here?" He said as he shot Morrigan his best and most handsome smile.

"And I _certainly_ have no intention of being your diamond." She hissed. Oh well, someday he would make her return his feelings. They kept walking and Alistair quickly ran out of coin to give to the refugees. They managed to find the trader who seemed to be in some sort of heated discussion with one of the chantry sisters. A small group of sad-looking refugees was watching the fight from the sides. The trader suddenly tried and push away the chantry sister but she simply side-stepped his hand. Where had a chantry sister learned how to move like that?

"Back off! I can charge whatever I want for my wares." The tall and fat trader said as Daylen's group got within hearing range.

"These people are starving and you're squeezing out every last copper from them?" She said in a heavy Orlesian accent. The most sexy of all accents, Daylen thought.

"And if I give away the last of my wares for free I'll be the starving one." Alistair made a comment about finding that hard to believe which made Daylen chuckle out loudly, turning their attention over to him. "What's so damn funny? Am I some sort of jester to you?"

"Well you're certainly acting like one, chubby." He blurted out before realising that making the possibly last trader in town upset was a bad idea. The eyebrows on the man told him that it was too late to save the situation now.

"I was doing this rat-infested town a favor by staying behind when everyone else moved on. My charity is now at an end!"

"Lothering isn't _that_ rat-infested, is it?" Alistair asked with a curious tone.

"I was referring to the refugees." The fat man said without looking at the group as he was gathering up his wares into his cart.

"Please, you can't leave these people behi-" The chantry sister said pleadingly but was cut off by the man.

"I can and I will!" Morrigan suddenly stepped forward.

"You're making a mistake by taking your chances with the next town, merchant." She said with a voice that was sweet like honey. Daylen wondered why she never spoke like that with him? "As you stated, you're the last hope for these refugees. You'll easily sell out your wares and make a profit even if you charge a bit less. The next town will have competition which will force you to lower your prices anyway with the additional risk of not selling out your wares." Daylen wondered how Morrigan who had lived in the forest all her life knew all this. Maybe they had been lied to and Flemeth was actually just a really shrewd merchant who somehow had sold Morrigan to them. He quickly waved off that thought since Morrigan did not act like she belonged to him at all, bummer.

"Hmm... You make a good point." He said as he scratched his chin. Or chins might be a better word. "Fine, I'll stay and I'll even lower the prices a bit." He turned towards Daylen with narrowed eyes. "You still pay full price." Oh well, it wasn't like he needed to be the one buying the things he needed.

"Thank you." The chantry sister said with a voice as smooth as silk. The fat man simply grumbled something and ignored them as he went to the other side of the cart to speak with some other people who looked like they wanted something. "And thank you too." She said as she turned towards Morrigan.

"Don't be under the impression that I did it for you or the townsfolk." Morrigan huffed. "You deal with the trader, I have no further desire to speak with him." She told Alistair who once again looked like he wanted to protest but gave up before he even tried. He really is a pushover, isn't he?

"Even if you didn't do it for them the refugees will be better off thanks to you." The sister said as she flashed a beautiful smile. Focus Daylen! You got Morrigan that you're trying to court, the mage told himself.

"A beautiful woman such as yourself shouldn't waste your time with greasy bastards such as him." He once again blurted out before going through it in his mind. Oh well, it couldn't hurt to throw out another net. Morrigan didn't seem to react though and Daylen didn't know if he should be relieved or worried.

"Flatterer." She said with an even brighter smile. "I don't recall seeing any of you around before. Who are you people if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm Daylen and this is Morrigan. The blonde one over there is Alistair, he and I are Grey Wardens." The sister's eyebrows shot up and Morrigan elbowed him hard in the ribs. Daylen was about to ask why she had suddenly attacked him when he realised that he really had fix his 'speak first, think later' problem. "I mean, he and I wanted to become Grey Wardens before this whole betraying-the-king-situation. Terrible people those Wardens." The sister simply giggled.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." Daylen breathed a sigh of relief. If Elissa found out he had been walking around telling people that their group was the one that Loghain claimed had killed the king she would skin him alive. "On one condition though." Please let it be personal slave. Daylen realised that was the second time in a short time-frame he had those thoughts. Was he a masochist? "Let me join your group."

* * *

"Did you really put it in?" Elissa asked with a questioning voice.

"I did, it's in there." Marcus responded with a somewhat frustrated voice.

"I'm not feeling it. The ones we have in Ferelden are usually bigger."

"It's not the size that counts it's how it's being used."

"Let me have a feel." Lyna said as she sat down and dove in with her hand.

"Let me pull out first, otherwise our hands will be cut clean off." Marcus said as he quickly pulled away.

"Can't we just switch it for one of the bigger ones?" Elissa sighed. "Maybe this works in The Anderfels but it's obviously not made for the ones we have in Ferelden." Marcus raised his hands up in defeat and let the two women switch out the component that didn't fit in the trap he was working on. They were just about done and Elissa was surprised at how quickly they had finished this. The woman who had approached Marcus for help in putting traps on her field was at a safe distance overlooking their work. As they set up the last trap they made their way over to her.

"I can't thank you people enough." She said with as she handed over the coin which, funnily enough, was just enough to thank them.

"Are you certain that staying in Lothering is a good idea?" Lyna asked and Elissa agreed. The darkspawn would sooner or later reach this town and then there would be nothing that could defend them.

"My family has owned this farm for eight generations. I'll not go down in history as the one that abandoned it." While Elissa could respect the woman's pride it was a pride that would lead to her death. Though she wasn't going to press the issue any more since she had done so plenty in the last hour. As she thanked them once again she hurried back to her house, probably to begin preparing to barricade herself in against the darkspawn horde. The group of Elissa, Marcus and Lyna started their walk back towards town, now that Marcus had some coin again they could get him some much needed gear. His weapon had apparently been left at Ostagar and he had been lent a dagger by Hawke who had left for home when they went to the farmer's house.

"Do you remember how you managed to escape the Tower of Ishal, Lyna?" Marcus asked as they were walking along the quiet and peaceful country road. Elissa found it hard to believe that this would soon turn out to be a war zone.

"All I remember is a large roar, probably another ogre, before it all went black. As I woke up Morrigan told me that Flemeth had saved us."

"How she made it through all those darkspawn I'll never understand. She must be a really powerful mage or maybe we managed to thin their ranks out enough for her." Elissa added. Marcus didn't seem or sound convinced though.

"Right." The man seemed to be deep in thought for some moments before Lyna spoke up, changing the subject.

"You managed to kill those highwaymen outside of town without a weapon?"

"Together with Hawke, yes. I was mostly just there as moral support and an extra target for the enemies. I'm completely useless with a dagger in a fight."

"I told you we should've taken care of those bandits before heading to Ostagar." Elissa said with a smile. the man gave off a soft chuckle.

"I guess you were right, I'll be sure to follow your lead in the future. Speaking of which, is Alistair fine with you leading?" Elissa decided to give him a questioning look, just to make certain he had not insulted her some way. "Don't get me wrong, you're good at it but I just wondered with Alistair actually being the senior Grey Warden and all." Good Elissa, you didn't jump to conclusions and get into another fight with one of your squadmates. She gave herself a mental clap on the back.

"Seems like Alistair prefers to follow." Lyna answered in her place. "You got any experience leading people, Marcus?"

"Some, but I know next to nothing about Ferelden so I would make a poor leader for now."

"So you have experience being the leader of something?" Elissa asked, hoping to get some more information about him. Marcus had stopped and was staring at some cage in the distance. Elissa squinted her eyes and could make out the form of some large person or creature inside.

"What is that? I've never seen anything like it before." Lyna seemed to have no difficulties seeing the creature from this distance. Those elves had some really good sight and hearing, Elissa was slightly jealous.

"It's a qunari." Marcus flatly said.

"You've met one before, I'm guessing?" Elissa asked as they started making their way over to the thing. She had only read about them and was excited to see one in person, even locked up as it was.

"I have met several, none of them were friendly." He nodded his head towards the cage. "And judging by the location of this one I'm guessing he's the same."

"So there's a lot of them up in The Anderfels?"

"Enough of them to be a problem."

"If they are a problem then why does your people not drive them out?" Lyna asked.

"We are a strong but divided people. Our king is worthless and the Grey Wardens in the Anderfels doesn't care."

"I read in a book about The Anderfels once that it's the both the poorest and most feared nation in Thedas. Is that not true then?" Elissa asked, trying to remember the name of the author, it was on the tip of her tongue

"I wouldn't be surprised about the most poor part. Most feared I highly doubt to be true, maybe if it was properly united." They stopped in front of the cage and had a stare-down with the qunari inside it. Elissa was the first to speak up.

"Who put you there and why?"

"I put myself here." He said in a low booming voice.

"And the 'why' part?"

"Because of reasons you wouldn't understand, _Basra_." Elissa had no idea what it meant and looked towards Marcus in hope he would understand. It seems like he did.

"It means something like 'thing'. As if you're nothing in his eyes so yes, it was an insult." The qunari shifted his gaze towards Marcus.

"You speak qunlat?" The language of the qunari, Elissa knew that much at least.

"Enough to know when you're being insulting, _Venak hol_."

"Is there a reason you people are here? If you're expecting to be entertained you'll be disappointed."

"Simple curiosity." Elissa said as she folded her arms. If the stories about the qunari were true then he might be a good ally to take with them. For that to work though she would have to earn his respect somehow. "I'm guessing the townsfolk put you here out of fear?"

"You could say that." He coldly responded while still staring down Marcus.

"And would you be interested in getting out of there?"

"No." Well, this was going to be difficult. She let out a deep sigh and tried again.

"It just seems like such a waste to leave you to the darkspawn while you could be used against them."

"Just what are you suggesting, _Basra_?" Elissa turned towards Marcus as he seemed to have the most experience with the qunari people.

"Could we take him with us? He wouldn't stab us in the back?" Marcus simply shrugged.

"If a qunari wants you dead he'll attempt to take your life the moment he sees you." That was all Elissa needed to hear. They were desperate for powerful allies and a qunari couldn't hurt, hopefully.

"How about it qunari? Join us Wardens and you'll get to kill all the darkspawn you want." The man's eyebrows shot up.

"You're Grey Wardens?" The surprise clear in his voice. "I suppose not all legends are true."

"I'm guessing that was another insult?" Lyna whispered to the others.

"A simply yes or no would suffice as an answer, qunari." Elissa said in a commanding voice, not wanting to drag this conversation out more than needed. The qunari looked directly into her eyes as if he could find his answer in them. She guessed this would decide the answer and stared right back into his. After a couple of moments he closed his eyes and slowly nodded with determination.

"Yes, I will follow you, for now. In raising my sword against the darkspawn I will find my redemption." Redemption for what, Elissa wondered but didn't ask. Just happy to know that he would be on their side, for now.

"Great, I'll just see if I can pick your cage open."

"No need." He calmly said as he put both hands on the cage door and, without breaking a sweat, pushed it open. "Shall we get moving? I'm itching to be elsewhere." He calmly said as he stepped out.

"Uhm, we first need to resupply in town." Elissa answered, unsure of what had just happened. "And you'll need a weapon as well I'm guessing? Any weapontype you prefer over others?"

"Swords." He immediately responded. "But I don't think me walking into the town would be appreciated. I'll manage without a weapon until we run across someone who won't need it anymore." Until we run across someone we kill, Elissa corrected in her head.

"Fair enough but we're going to need you at your best right from the start. Lyna can stay here with you while we go back to gather what we need." Lyna made some sort of surprised sound and looked at Elissa with pleading eyes that screamed 'don't leave me here with him'. Elissa decided to be a bit evil and simply ignore the elf and started walking back to town together with Marcus.

* * *

Marcus was walking through Lothering together with Elissa, having just left Lyna behind with the qunari they had decided to recruit into their party. Marcus could understand the benefits of having one of those on their side but still didn't like it. The qunari were violent towards everything they didn't agree with, which was mostly everything other than themselves Marcus had noticed.

"It just hit me, we never asked for his name." Elissa suddenly said.

"They don't have names as far as I know, they go by ranks."

"Really? Seems a bit... impersonal?"

"Is that surprising? This is the qunari we're talking about." Marcus said while chuckling, drawing a smile from the woman next to him.

"I suppose you're right." They kept walking towards where the trader was last time they went through the town, all while dodging the people-filled streets best they could. There might be more of Loghain's men nearby. "So were you some sort of qunari-hunter back home?" Elissa suddenly asked. Marcus was fairly certain such a thing didn't even exist. If it did the pay probably wouldn't be worth the risk. Although what he had been wasn't much better if not worse.

"No, I didn't get much choice of what to be back in The Anderfels." A familiar face was walking towards them, interrupting their conversation.

"I was about to go check on you guys. You done with setting the traps?" Hawke said and Marcus could sense that she was quite troubled but was trying to hide it behind a smiling and carefree face. He guessed that her mother and sister was back home and she had just ended quite an uncomfortable discussion. "Where's Lyna?"

"She's waiting just outside of town, we're going to get supplies." Elissa answered and Marcus noticed she had decided not to bring up the qunari. Wise choice considering the townsfolk must've locked him up for a reason. "Was it something you needed to tell us?"

"I just thought that since you mentioned that you would be leaving Lothering as soon as possible I would say my goodbyes before you left."

"You and your family are going to stay in Lothering?" Marcus asked, hoping that they wouldn't. Hawke should be smart enough to know that Lothering wouldn't be safe.

"Maker, no! We just need to prepare for our journey north, to Kirkwall. I would like to go with you guys and save Ferelden and all but I have to watch over my family." She looked back the way she had come from. "With father and my brother gone, it's up to me now to make sure the rest of us don't end up dead." She turned her head back towards the two Wardens. "The burdens of being the eldest, I guess."

"Why Kirkwall though?" Elissa asked.

"Mother said we have family there together with an estate. Once you're done playing heroes you should stop by. I'll buy you a drink." She said with a smile. "I need to head back. Promise me you'll stay safe." Marcus wanted to promise but didn't really dare to, he know that with how Ostagar went and the amount of Wardens left this was basically a suicide mission. He went with a slight nod and they watched the woman disappear back where she had came from.

"You know when you asked about the Tower of Ishal earlier?" Elissa asked as they started walking again.

"Yes?"

"Do you have some sort of theory of how we got out of there? It sounded to me like you did." Marcus was unsure of how to answer that. He had started with thinking that the dragon was just some stray dragon that had decided that burning up a tower would be fun. Later when he learned that Flemeth had saved them he was certain that it was she that had been that dragon. Would Elissa believe him if he said that they had been saved by a dragon? He had a hard time believing it himself, how would Flemeth benefit from saving their lives? And why had she sent Morrigan with them?

"You know that huge roar Lyna heard?" He decided to let Elissa know the truth. The woman nodded at his question. "That roar came from a dragon." Elissa's eyes became as big as plates. He knew she had a hard time believing him.

"So you're saying that not only did Flemeth save us from the darkspawn but also a dragon?" The scepticism was clear in her voice.

"No. I'm saying that Flemeth is the dragon." They walked in silence for a while as Elissa was processing what she had been told. They made it to the trader who seemed to be in quite a bad mood for some reason. Marcus didn't complain though as the prices was cheaper than he had expected and they managed to get everything they needed with coin to spare. Sword for the qunari and a spear for himself. New armor for both as well. They turned around and started making their way back to the ones they had left by the cage.

"Are you certain about this?" She asked, looking straight into his eyes.

"Yes, but I'm not certain about why she did it. We should keep an eye on Morrigan, just in case." Elissa started giggling uncontrollably. Marcus thought she had gone insane.

"I believe Daylen is keeping both eyes on her at all times. We need not worry." He chuckled at that, realising how true it was. Morrigan wouldn't be able to do anything without Daylen knowing about it. "But okay, I believe you. We should keep it a secret from everyone else until we know what Flemeth is up to."

"Don't worry, it'll be our little secret." As they got back to the cage they saw the elf and the qunari standing several feet away from each other. The qunari with an empty expression and the elf with an uneasy expression.

"What's your name?" Elissa asked the giant.

"Sten is my rank." He answered while accepting the sword and armor provided for him. Elissa looked towards Marcus with a 'guess you were right'-look in her face. Marcus suddenly felt enemies all around him. He readied his spear and the others followed him as on instinct. Even Sten was ready with the sword as he let the armor drop to the ground. After a few moments at least 20 villagers had circled them. Were they angry because of them letting Sten out of his cage?

"Word around town says you're Grey Wardens. They say you killed the king." Elissa was about to object but the leader of the villagers continued. "And even if you didn't that doesn't change the bounty on your heads. A bounty that could feed a lot of people. Get them!" Marcus thought this was such a waste. These men could be getting their families to safety right now and instead they were throwing their lives away. The villagers closed in on them fast but stood no chance against the group of Wardens and a qunari. The fight was over within a minute and the dead bodies around them was evidence enough that they were no longer welcomed in Lothering.

"This is all Loghain's fault." Elissa growled. "Him and that damn Howe." Sten had just finished strapping on his armor and waited patiently by the road. Elissa took the hint and started leading the group towards the western exit of town where they would meet the others. Marcus was hoping that the other villagers would at least stay away from them. Killing a whole group of them were only hurting the Wardens reputation in this country. Marcus glanced at their newest companion who were staring blankly straight forward. He must be one of those _Vashoth_, qunaris who have left their precious qun. Other than mercenaries you would never see their people this far south.

"He didn't say a single word during the time when you and Elissa left me with him." Lyna had snuck up beside him and whispered so that the giant wouldn't hear her.

"Don't worry about it, they're all like that." He reassured the elf.

"You think he's dangerous?"

"I know he's dangerous, the question that remains is to who." He thought back to the days up in the north when he had run into groups of the qunari together with his past companions. Every fight with them had been a challenge and every fight with them had made him feel so alive.

"What is that thing!?" Daylen's voice suddenly echoed off the wall they were walking next to. Up ahead just next to the ramp that lead up to the imperial highway stood the other part of their group. Except that it was their group plus one, Marcus noticed. "You picked someone up as well?"

"What do you mean 'picked up as well'? Who is that?" Elissa nodded towards the unknown woman who was standing next to Alistair, in full leather armor with a bow on her back. This group has quite a lot of archers now, he thought. The woman was mostly looking towards Sten with a hint of fear in her eyes. He guessed that she must've known of the qunari for some time and was wondering why it had been let out.

"Told you she wouldn't like us picking up more party members." Alistair told Daylen with a smirk on his face.

"This here is Leliana." Daylen ignored the senior Warden while still keeping his eyes on Sten. "And you need to hear this." He said with a big smile on his face as he moved his eyes towards the more familiar faces. Leliana suddenly looked really uncomfortable. "She's coming with us because the maker told her to." All Marcus and the others could do was look at her, uncertain on what to say.

"I know that it must sound crazy, but it's true!" The woman said in a heavy Orlesian accent. "He told me of the darkness that is threatening to consume us all and that four bright souls will triumph over it. Those four souls must be you, the Wardens!"

"Except that there's five of us Wardens here." Elissa said as Marcus noticed she had carefully taken a step back. A good move, this woman was obviously insane and their group was insane enough as it was. Leliana looked lost at what Elissa had said.

"But there should only be four." She sounded certain and Marcus couldn't help but think that maybe she was a seer of some sorts. The Maker speaking to her was obviously a lie. While Marcus could maybe buy the existence of a powerful being in some sort of form he highly doubted such a being would bother with the trivial affairs of mortals. Even so, Marcus stood firm in his beliefs. Even though they were beliefs that had been forced on him he had started following it by his own free will after seeing the truth of it.

"Look, we're happy that you want to he-" Elissa was just about to decline her help nicely when a familiar feeling suddenly hit all the Grey Wardens present.

"Darkspawn." Alistair said as they all looked up towards The Imperial Highway. A sudden battle cry threw them all into combat-mode, rushing up the ramp towards the darkspawn. Marcus was up front together with Alistair and Sten with the rest following closely behind. They spotted a group of about ten darkspawn charging towards them. To put as much distance between the ranged party members and the enemy the front-line charged as well. Three arrows sang past his ears and three of the darkspawn died before the battle had even started. A fireball followed shortly blasting away the two genlocks at the back with ranged weapons. Only five remained and they had just reached the enemy. A hurlock tried a quick wide slash, Marcus decided to properly test the quality of the spear and used it to block the attack. The spear held and he pushed back the opponents blade and used the momentum to go into a thrusting motion. The monster was dead before it even realised his attacked had been blocked. As the darkspawn fell to the road Marcus could feel his blood pumping again which it hadn't properly done since the highwaymen before they got into Lothering. Looking around hoping to find more sources of excitement he was disappointed to see that they were all being taken cared of. Sten had sliced his opponent in half and Alistair just finished bashing in the skull of his one with his shield. The remaining two had fallen to another barrage of arrows. Seems like this Leliana woman was good with a bow at least.

"You weren't lying when you said you know how to use a bow." Daylen said while giving the woman in question a look of respect. "Any injuries by the way anyone? No? Good, less work for me then." Leliana was looking right into the eyes of Elissa.

"And using a bow isn't all I can do, please let me come with you." Daylen had probably told her that Elissa was in charge. Their leader was deep in thought as she looked at the other archer from top to toe. After a few moments she gave her answer.

"You can come with us, we're not going to turn away someone of your skills." Leliana looked like she was about to jump of joy.

"Thank you, you won't regret it!"

"I'm already regretting all of this." Morrigan sighed, why was she still coming with them then? Marcus was wondering if she was in on whatever it was Flemeth was planning or not. "At least she will take some of the fool's focus away from me."

"Don't worry, my dear diamond. You will always be the main focus of my eyes." Daylen said in, what he believed to be, a deep and husky voice.

"We can harass and speak further once we get moving. We are several days away from Orzammar and I would like to be there sooner rather than later with Loghain after our heads." No one in the group voiced any complaints and with that they moving west, towards the dwarves and, hopefully, their first allies.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_A/N - A somewhat short and late chapter. Wish I had an excuse but celebrating midsummer isn't really one. Nothing else to say really except that I hope you people will review and some of you keep reviewing. It might sound silly but reading what people think about the story, both good and bad things, is a great motivation._

* * *

Daylen sat on a rock in the middle of a field somewhere together with seven other madmen and madwomen. That's all you could say they were considering how they were trying to save the world from a darkspawn horde with an archdemon leading it. Just the eight of them, against that very horde. Hopefully they'll be able to even out the odds with the help from the dwarves. Daylen hugged his cloak closer as a cold wind blew by. It had stopped raining at least but the cold indicated that soon they wouldn't have to worry about rain at all since it would have changed to snow. He quickly glanced around the ones sitting close to him, noticing that Marcus and Sten didn't seem to be bothered at all by the cold weather. Sten, a murderer, had somehow joined their group in Lothering after he had been caged for about a week. No one had asked exactly why he had been caged and although Daylen usually had no problems asking questions he found himself unwilling to engage in any sort of conversation with the giant. He looked like he would snap you in two if you asked the 'wrong' question.

"You're gonna eat that?" A pleading voice was heard from his side.

"Yes, Alistair. I am gonna eat it and I'm gonna enjoy it so much." Daylen told the other Warden while settling the cheese he had in a iron-grip. It was unsettling having another person close by with the same love towards cheese that he had.

"We can split it?"

"No."

"I can taste it to make sure it's not poison?"

"You know what, let me just have Morrigan take a look at it and then you'll be free to check if it's poisonous." Snickers and chuckles were heard from around them as Alistair actually seemed to ponder it for a moment. He shook his head afterwards, admitting his defeat.

"_Imekaris_..." A certain qunari suddenly said with a low growl. Daylen looked over towards Marcus, their translator.

"Insult." He quickly said.

"I'm hurt, Sten." Daylen said while looking towards the qunari with a hurtful expression, which the giant simply ignored. While scary, it was so much fun to mess around with him. Daylen quickly ate the last of his cheese as he saw Alistair slightly change position that would make it easier for him to steal the delicious last piece. The chatter began to pick up after that and Daylen decided to go make another visit to Morrigan's area of the camp. Morrigan sat outside the tent, reading a book as usual. It was either that or mixing of potions.

"Ah, 'tis that time again?" She said as he got close enough, without looking up from her book.

"What time?"

"The time to pester Morrigan with mundane and stupid questions."

"What kind of questions would that be?" That made Morrigan break away from her book and look up towards him.

"Questions like where I stand on cheese or my what's my favourite color! Why do you need to know these things?"

"I need to know if I'm gonna have to protect my cheese from another pair of hands. And you promised me last night that you would tell me your favourite color if I didn't engage in any conversation with you during the day." Which he had managed with great difficulty.

"Black."

"Oh."

"Were you hoping for something else?" She asked as she turned her attention back towards her book. Daylen was not breaching that wall at all. Maybe he was going at it the wrong way? He decided to leave Morrigan earlier than usual this night as he made his way back to the campfire, still hugging the cloak closely around him. Morrigan must be freezing with the amount of clothing she's not wearing. Was she using magic to keep herself warm? Daylen wished he had paid more attention during primal classes now, restoration was nice and all but it didn't keep him warm. He looked around the campfire to see who was free that could help him come up with a plan. Sten was alone but there was no way he was going to ask the qunari for help in matters such as this. Leliana was deep in some story, Lyna and Alistair listening with great attention. Marcus and Elissa was sitting nearby but seemed to be in some discussion of their own. Marcus laughed at something Elissa said which told Daylen they had time to help him. If he had gotten any sign that it was a serious talk he would leave them alone but it seemed like it wasn't.

"I need help."

"Yes, you certainly do." Elissa quickly joked, earning another laugh from the Anderfels man. She only earned a mock laugh from Daylen though.

"Haha very funny. Seriously though, I need your help with Morrigan..." When no one said anything he guessed he needed to explain exactly what he meant. "In making her like me." Elissa burst out in laughter this time.

"This is so cute!" She said as she finally calmed down. The other group of Wardens were looking over towards them now. Elissa waved them off and they returned to Leliana's story. "I was under the impression you didn't mind her cold attitude towards you?"

"Maybe for the first week or so." Daylen already regretted letting Elissa know about all this. He often forgot about her split-personality. When they had something to do she was commanding and straight-forward. When they didn't have something to do she was joking around and it was close to impossible to have a serious discussion with her. Their rest time at camp brought out the later one. "Marcus, since you're not laughing openly in my face, what do you think I should do?"

"Uhm, What makes you think I can help you?"

"You've managed to speak with Morrigan without her throwing daggers at you afterwards. I want to know your secret." It was true. Since they left Lothering a couple of days ago, Marcus had managed to walk away from a talk with Morrigan without her mean glare following him around.

"I'm simply having normal discussions with her. Maybe you should try playing hard to get?"

"I think that's a good idea too." Elissa added. "Morrigan doesn't seem to respond well if you try too hard." Daylen thought they might have a good point.

"So I should ignore her?"

"Until she initiates, yes."

"What if she never initiates?"

"Then it wasn't meant to be." A high risk with a high reward tactic. Daylen thought he might as well give it a try and nodded. Sooner or later the witch would miss his company and seek him out and then he would win her over.

"Alright, I'll give it a go. If this doesn't work then it's your fault and it'll be up to you to find me someone else." He told Marcus.

"Flemeth is single, isn't she?" Marcus asked Elissa in a serious tone to which she nodded with the same serious look.

"I believe so, she also seem to have a thing for Wardens." Their poker-faces were so good that Daylen was beginning to think they were actually serious. Images he never wished for began popping up in his head and he loudly cursed the both of them and stormed off. Laughter directed at his back followed him as he went into his tent to follow Morrigan's idea of reading a book. He needed to get rid of those images before they got etched into his mind.

* * *

Winter was here, rain and mud was no longer an issue and instead they had to worry about the freezing cold and the slippery paths they were on. If Elissa was right then they should see the Orzammar gates soon. She absently nodded at whatever it was Alistair was saying as they were walking at the front of the group. He was still trying to convince her that they should go to Redcliffe first even though they had passed the town days earlier. Not passed through, they took a path that lead them around the town. Elissa didn't trust anyone in Ferelden that held any sort of power at the moment. They didn't know who was siding with Loghain and Howe. Despite what Alistair was saying there was a chance of Arl Eamon being in on their plan as well. She looked over her shoulder towards the others, quickly noticing that Daylen was struggling with not talking to Morrigan. The witch was walking in the back together with the Sten, both content with the silence it would seem. Marcus was walking together with Lyna and Leliana, the human woman showering him with questions about everything involving The Anderfels. A sudden gust of wind reminded Elissa of the cold. She threw a quick angry glare at the three people who didn't seem to be bothered by the cold at all. Marcus was probably used to it, Sten was probably ignoring it and Morrigan was probably using magic, the damn cheater. Daylen was quickly gaining on the two at the front as he was tightly hugging his cloak around him.

"Couldn't we just sent those three up here?" The mage complained, nodding his head towards the three in the back. "I don't understand why I have to freeze my nipples off just to meet some short hairy men and women."

"We have to stay together, we can not afford to lose a single one of us." Elissa said as she too brought the cloak closer around her. Maybe Marcus or Sten could be convinced to trade their cloak for something, they didn't seem to need them.

"Also, is it true that dwarven women have beards as well?"

"Why are you asking? Is it something you look for in a woman?" Elissa asked the mage.

"Just don't want to be surprised and make a bad first impression by staring at it too much." Daylen shrugged as he twisted his head to look back to the group. "Hey Marcus, come over here!" The ordered man quickly finished off whatever it was he was saying and made his way over the group.

"What is it?"

"Does dwarven ladies have beards?" Marcus simply stared at Daylen with a deadpanned expression for a few moments before he slowed down his walk and joined up with his previous group. The whole thing threw Elissa in a fit of giggles and Daylen looked hurt from having his question ignored. It didn't take long after that before they saw the entrance. Big stone doors looking like they were carved straight out from the mountain. Several carts with wares and merchants surrounded the small clearing by the entrance. It was quite the grand sight looking up towards the doors, Elissa had to wonder how many men or dwarves it took to open them. Her amazement turned to frustration as she saw a group of about ten humans arguing with the entrance guards. The soldiers belonged to Loghain.

"Trouble." Lyna quietly said as she walked up next to Elissa.

"Yeah, I doubt they'll let us pass without at least throwing some angry glares and maybe swing a weapon or two." Elissa said as she was going through different ways on how to deal with them in her head.

"I say that we just kill them." Morrigan flatly said as she joined the group.

"And give Loghain even more reason to hunt us?" Alistair asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The man has already proven that he hardly needs a reason to do the things he's been doing." The witch snapped back. Elissa sort of agreed with Morrigan. Loghain would probably keep hunting them no matter how they dealt with this situation. Killing his men would at least delay the news about them being here at Orzammar.

"We deal with them here." Elissa said as she motioned for the melee guys in the group to take point. She noticed that Alistair didn't look too happy, probably bitter about her not siding with him once again. As they got closer they could hear that Loghain's men were having problems getting into the dwarven city. "What's going on?"

"These dwarves are covering in their little hole and we're being refused entry." The man who seemed to be the leader of Loghain's men answered with a growl.

"We're not covering, human." One of the dwarves guarding the gate said with a tired tone. "As I've already told you we're without a king an-"

"We're not asking to meet your king we're asking to meet whoever's in charge!" Elissa had to wonder how long these soldiers had been standing out here demanding entry. And what was this about them having no king?

"What happened to your king?" She asked, knowing that their king Endrin Aeducan was well-liked and should have plenty of years left until age would catch up with him.

"Dead from an illness that caught him just a few weeks back. Until the assembly ca-"

"Until the assembly move their fat arses no humans can enter!" Loghain's man interrupted, earning him an angry glare from the dwarf guard. But these news of the kings death was troubling. Elissa had read enough about dwarven politics to know that they could be messy. If the 'wrong' dwarf ended up on the throne they would be having problems getting the allies they had came for. First of all they would have to take care of these soldiers.

"It quite clear that Loghain is not welcomed in Orzammar. Run back to him before you freeze to death out here." The leader looked down on her with a furious look. She didn't like that she was being looked down upon but with the height difference there was nothing she could do about it.

"And what makes you believe that your business takes higher priority than mine?" He growled.

"Warden business." She simply said, waiting for a reaction that didn't take long to show itself.

"I should've known you were the traitors sooner!" He unsheathed his sword and made certain that he was backed up before looking over the Warden group. "Kill them all!" He was a lot faster than Elissa had expected and a dagger wasn't going to do much against an armored man with a sword and shield. He brought his sword over his head, preparing to chop down hard on her. She was just about to try and parry it with the small dagger she took out when he stopped mid-swing. A tip of a spear was lodged deep right between his eyes and she was reminded that she had back-up as well. The spear got pulled out at the same time as she got pulled back, narrowly evading a swing from a mace. Marcus together with Alistair and Sten stepped in and started holding the other party off as arrows and spell started flying through the air. Elissa quickly recovered from having been thrown away from the front-line and readied her bow. Looking over the small battlefield she spotted one of the enemies standing a bit further back than the rest with a crossbow in his hands. He was aiming towards the group of fighters and Elissa quickly fired an arrow at him. It hit him in the arm and the bolt that flew from the crossbow wasn't even close to hitting its intended mark. She quickly fired another arrow and the man fell dead to the ground shortly after, another arrow having found its way to his throat.

"Well, that hardly lasted more than twenty seconds. It must be some kind of record, right?" Daylen happily said as Elissa noticed that the rest of the enemies had already been taken cared of.

"By the ancestors. I thank you for dealing with the cause of my headache but cleaning this up..." The dwarven guard said as he looked across the dead bodies that littered the ground. The party was calmly cleaning their weapons from the blood and Elissa went back to getting them into the damn city.

"You're not going to turn away Wardens, are you?" She asked the guard, hoping that he would fear them enough to allow them passage.

"Do you have any kind of proof to who you claim to be, human?" Elissa calmly reached down into one of her pockets and fished out the dwarven treaty. The guard slowly read the words on the piece of paper and she had to guess that reading wasn't his strong point. "That is the royal seal..." He trailed off, leaving everyone wondering if that was good enough to let them enter.

"So we're allowed to enter?" Lyna asked.

"The royal seal means that I can't turn you away but the assembly still can."

"What you mean they can turn us away? Don't you dwarves understand what a treaty is?" Elissa asked, already slightly irritated as they saw just a glimpse of how complicated dwarven politics are.

"Our king is obliged to honor the treaty, something that Orzammar right now is without." He calmly said as he handed back the treaty. He motioned for two other guards to open the gates. "Be prepared though, Wardens. You will not see Orzammar at its best once you enter."

"That's fine. We haven't seen anything at its best lately." Elissa said as she took point of the group and lead them into the mountain.

* * *

Giant stone statues filled the big entrance hall. Marcus guessed that they had something to do with the dwarves' ancestors. Dwarven culture and history was something he had never been taught as it was deemed 'unnecessary". It still kind of fascinated him though.

"Guess they don't grow beards after all." Daylen said to him as they walked down the hall. Marcus followed the mage's eyes and saw a female dwarven who seemed to be praying to one of the statues.

"You sound disappointed."

"I am. My whole picture of the dwarven race has shattered."

"Oh well, I think you'll manage without the females having facial hair."

"What's next? They're peaceful and _not_ drunk 25 hours per day?" Marcus spotted Lyna walking next to Daylen, looking very uneasy.

"What's the matter?" He asked her.

"It's nothing." She said with very little conviction.

"Bullshit." Daylen said as he now too saw that something was obviously troubling the elf. She sighed and cautiously looked around before turning her gaze back to them.

"It's just... I hate not being able to see the sky or drawing in a breath without a hint of trees in it. Please don't mention anything to Elissa. I don't want to be a bother." They both softly chuckled at seeing how vulnerable the elf was acting. They had been in here for less than two minutes and she was already acting like this. The rest of the group was acting as expected. Morrigan and Sten looking bored and not paying any attention to the grand hall or the statues in it. Leliana was the opposite, eyes darting around all over the place and making comments of how amazing everything was. Alistair was still sulking over being forced here instead of going to Redcliffe. Elissa looked focused, still wearing her leader mask as they were in the middle of trying make the dwarves honor the treaties. The woman kept surprising him. At first he had seen a noblewoman who was somewhat good with a bow and had a way with words. After Lothering and their journey to this place he had seen that she was a born leader. She didn't let emotions decide her decisions unlike some and she had an aura which reminded him of some of the men and women back in his hometown.

"By the way Marcus." Daylen said in a low tone, throwing Marcus out of his thoughts. "This whole plan about ignoring Morrigan and letting her come to me?"

"Yes?"

"Were you two making fun of me when you suggested that?"

"What?"

"It's obviously not working!"

"It's only been like a day, man." Lyna didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation as she focused on some point on the other end of the hallway.

"And I can already feel her slipping away from me!" He spoke loud enough for Elissa to catch what was being said. She slowed her pace to walk with them with a huge grin on her face. "Everything I've built up with her will soon be for nothing!"

"You haven't built up much." Elissa said, still with a grin on her face. "But maybe we should go over to plan B..." She said as she went deep into thought as he had seen her do a few times before. A small wrinkle formed between her brows as she began biting her nails probably without realising it.

"You got a plan B?" Daylen asked, sounding somewhat hopeful. Elissa gave a quick and short answer.

"Soon." Marcus had to laugh as he saw Daylen's face go from full of hope to defeated in an instant. "Maybe she likes the attention but would like to receive it in a different way?"

"More specific please."

"Maybe serenade her or give her flowers." Marcus saw what Elissa was doing and thought it was both evil and hilarious. "Tell her that you wish for a future with her in it and that you'll shower her with love and affection day in and day out." Mostly hilarious. The best part was that Daylen didn't seem to catch that she was joking around and looked like he was already making plans in his head. They came upon another huge set of doors which the dwarves kindly opened and the sight that met them took their breath away. Part because it was an amazing sight and part because the air was heavy and hot beyond anything Marcus had experienced. They were in a giant room the size of a large town and buildings were carved out of stone along the walls. Underneath them there was a lake of lava, the origin of the annoying heat. The rest of the group didn't seem to mind it though as they with relieved faces removed their cloaks. Marcus couldn't understand how anyone could enjoy such warmth.

"Look at the bridge, this is simply amazing." Leliana was back to admiring everything. The bridge she was talking about went from one end of the large room to the other. Judging by the size of the house it led to Marcus had to guess it was something important.

"I'll go find out where we need to go." Elissa said as she went up to a guard while followed by Lyna who seemed to feel a bit better now that they were in a more open space.

"Should I go with plan B?" Daylen whispered to him as they waited. Marcus decided that while it was evil it would be entertaining to watch.

"Sure."

* * *

Lyna stood with her arms crossed under her chest while leaning on a wall. Her eyes were closed and she did everything she could to get her mind away from the fact that they were inside a mountain. Million tons of rock above and endless lava beneath, she did not want to stay here for much longer. Sure she could appreciate the fine craftmanship that was required to make the buildings and statues but not being able to see the sky made her hate this place. The group were waiting outside the assembly chamber as the dwarves were busy shouting and threatening each other inside. Elissa had given her a quick version of dwarven politics and it made even less sense after the explanations. Cast systems that made no sense and noble houses that were at each others throats if someone spilled a bit of mead on someone else.

"It's good to know that people realise the danger of the blight." Alistair said with a big hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"The dwarves are the ones who 'benefit' the most from blights though." Elissa said.

"What do you mean? How can anyone benefit from what's happening up on the surface." _Up_ on the surface. Lyna would even trade the chilling cold they had to endure to get here for this oversized cave.

"The darkspawn leave the deep roads during blights." Marcus answered as he was looking over his spear. He had complained that the blade was of poor quality and the fight by the entrance had dulled it even more.

"Exactly. You could almost say that the dwarves have a vacation right now." Elissa said with a forced smile. She got irritated quite easily and them being left in this tiny space while they were bickering away probably didn't help.

"So locking themselves in a chamber while yelling at each others for days is considered a vacation for them?" Daylen asked. Lyna chuckled slightly, glad that the group could still joke around while at a dead end. The doors to said chamber suddenly opened, making the yelling and cursing louder for a moment before it closed again. An old dwarf was walking towards the group, his eyes tired and his posture defeated.

"Greetings, what I presume to be, Wardens. I am assembly steward Bandelor. You come to us in troubled times and I hope you can forgive our... poor manners." Lyna felt sorry for the dwarf as he obviously seemed to be a reasonable man trapped in a madhouse.

"It's no problem, things aren't much better up at the surface." Elissa said, probably feeling the same thing.

"So we've heard. Blights, whispers of civil war and sick leaders. I guess us dwarves should consider ourselves lucky." He chuckled. Something about what he said caught Alistair's attention though.

"Civil war? Sick leaders? What do you mean?" He asked.

"You'll have to forgive me, I'm no expert when it comes to human politics." He sighed as he began stroking his beard. That reminded Lyna about Daylen's comment on bearded female dwarves. She had to suppress a giggle. "The news we've received is that civil war is close to breaking out after what happened at Ostagar."

"And the sick leaders?" Elissa asked as the group gave uneasy looks to each others. Lyna could guess that a civil war meant that some nobles were standing up to Loghain but that also meant that Ferelden would be in no shape to stop the darkspawn if they were fighting among themselves.

"The name escapes me... But one of your... Carls? Jarls?"

"Arls" Alistair corrected.

"That's it, one of your Arls appears to have fallen gravely ill."

"Which one?" Alistair immediately asked, Lyna had a bad feeling it would be the Arl everyone had in mind at the moment. "Arl Eamon?"

"If he's the one in that Redcliffe town, then yes. Knights from that town came to our gates a few days ago and asked about a certain Urn of Andraste." Alistair quickly spun around and faced Elissa.

"We have to go to Redcliffe _now_." It was more a demand than a suggestion. Elissa looked off in the distance for a few moments before she turned towards the rest of the Wardens."

"We can not afford to leave Orzammar without making sure we have our dwarven allies." Alistair looked ready to loudly start arguing but Elissa cut him off. "But we also have to go to Redcliffe to make sure we don't lose Arl Eamon if he's not siding with Loghain."

"You cannot be serious in still thinking that Eamon has allied himself with that damn traitor!" Alistair yelled out, almost managing to be louder than the assembly.

"No one is sure of anything, Alistair!" Elissa raised her voice as well. "Loghain might have spread this rumor to force us to Redcliffe."

"You're suggesting we split into two groups?" Marcus asked to which Elissa nodded.

"While it's safer to stay in one group we have no idea on how long we'll be here in Orzammar." She turned back to Alistair. "You'll be going to Redcliffe together with three others and I'll handle these dwarves and their politics. Sounds good?" Alistair simply nodded, seemingly pleased with the decision. Lyna saw the opportunity and jumped at it.

"If it's okay I would like to be one of the people going to Redcliffe." Lyna said. "I'm not very comfortable if I can't see the sky."

"That's fine, who else is going back to the surface?" surprisingly enough, Sten spoke up.

"These caves were not made for the qunari."

"I'll return as well, it would be a wise decision to split up the mages if we're going with two groups." Morrigan said straight after Sten volunteered. Lyna felt sorry for Daylen but it made sense for the two groups to have one mage each. She quickly glanced over to the mage and saw he was confused to what just happened.

"Right. Alistair, Lyna, Sten and Morrigan. You four head for Redcliffe at once while the rest of us stay here. We'll meet you in Redcliffe once our business here is done."

"When will that be?" Lyna asked. Elissa looked over to the dwarven steward, hoping for an answer.

"It's impossible to tell. The two major candidates for the crown refuses to give the other party an inch." He answered.

"Guess we'll have to tip the scales in someone's favor then." Elissa said as she sighed. Lyna felt sorry for the other group who would have to dive into all this while her group would enjoy a nice, while cold, trip back towards Redcliffe. Hopefully nothing involving politics would meet them there.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_A/N - A really short chapter where nothing really happens. Not the best way to start off something you want people to read but just be warned that this chapter is mostly just filler. A bit of a writer's block or whatever they call it and being slightly busy with another Dragon Age story I'm working on and the dreaded real life has left me little time to work on this._

* * *

Elissa had just said her goodbyes to the ones who were heading to Redcliffe and were walking towards some bar that the assembly steward had recommended. The steward had also told them that the dwarves wouldn't be able to honor the treaties until they got a king on the throne. So Elissa and the remaining people of their group were on their way to form a plan. The stench that met them in the recommended bar made them all believe that the dwarf had played them for fools.

"So what, other than vomit, do they serve here?" Elissa quietly asked the group as she pinched his nose.

"_Real_ ale and not that water you humans are used to." A female dwarf who Elissa assumed to be a barmaid answered. She made a mental note that dwarves have better hearing than she thought.

"Good, I have some sorrows that need to be washed away." Daylen said as he sat down. Elissa looked at him with a raised eyebrow. What was he depressed about?

"You're gonna miss Morrigan, aren't you?" Leliana said in a soothing voice as the rest of them sat down by the same table as the mage. So that's why he was feeling down.

"Had a new plan ready and everything! Now I'm forced to follow plan A..." Leliana threw a questioning glance towards Elissa and Marcus who just waved her off in a very 'we'll tell you later'-way.

"So what will ya have?" The same barmaid had managed to sneak up on them.

"We're new to dwarven beverages so we'll trust your judgement." Elissa told her and was met with a grin and a promise to be right back. Had she made a mistake?

"So what can we do to hurry this election up?" Marcus asked, getting to the point. He mostly directed that question towards Elissa who had the most knowledge on how their politics works.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that the king usually is the one who decides who will follow him. I don't understand how two different parties can claim their right to the throne unless king Aeducan never named any follower."

"I can answer that, Warden." A growling low voice suddenly answered behind her. Slightly startled, she turned around to see a dwarf with orange hair stumbling towards them. "That Harrowmont dude is saying that king Aeducan made him his successor while the Bhelen boy is saying that the old man is lying through his teeth." The group of Wardens and Leliana just stared at the obviously drunk dwarf that had approached them.

"Who are you and how did you know we're Wardens?" Daylen asked.

"I might be stupid, slow, drunk and stupid but even I know a Warden when I see one." He answered one of the questions and everyone went back to being quiet, waiting for him to answer the other question. Elissa got sick of waiting as the dwarf just stood there belching and scratching places she did not want to see being scratched.

"And your name?" She asked.

"Some call me drunk disgrace, others call me creep. Then there are a few people who call me Oghren. Heheh, I'll leave it up to you to guess which one's my birth name." He said as he stole a pint of ale from a nearby table and sat down with the humans.

"So you have some sort of plan that can help hurry this election along?" Marcus asked as the barmaid came back with her recommendations. Elissa took a quick sniff of the liquid in her mug.

"Aye, you're simply going to have choose a side. With Warden support it should be enough to help the assembly get off their lazy asses and make a decision for once."

"Should you really be attempting to drink this?" Daylen suddenly asked Elissa as he saw her reaction to what they had been brought. "You remember Lothering? Oh wait, you probably don't." He added as his switched from a look of worry to a smirk. She decided to take it as a challenge.

"I'll be sure to be careful, Daylen." She said with a sarcastic tone. Which did not have the desired effect as Daylen smirk just grew.

"Anyway, I was gonna say that a good place for you Wardens to show your support to one of the candidates would be at the proving that takes place tomorrow. They're gonna honor the last king or something." Oghren chuckled as he chugged down another mug he had managed to smuggle with him. Where was he hiding all that alcohol?

"You weren't a fan of king... Andrin?" Daylen asked.

"Endrin." Elissa quickly corrected. Unsure if the dwarves would be offended if they couldn't even remember their last king's name.

"Meh, he was an alright bloke for the most part."

"But?" Marcus added since everyone knew there were more to this.

"But that nug-humper did nothing to find out where Branka and the rest of the house went off to!" He growled as he took out a pouch from underneath his shirt and took a deep chug of that as well. Elissa had stopped being amazed at this point and simply wondered if he would survive the evening if he kept this up.

"Branka?" Marcus asked, probably hoping to get a bit more information than that.

"Did I stutter, human?"

"No, you slurred." Marcus met the dwarves gaze without a flinch, Elissa had to compliment him on that. A drunken dwarf was anything but stable.

"So who are we siding with?" Leliana changed subject, who wanted to avoid a fight. "Who would you suggest, Oghren?"

"Ehh, I don't care." The dwarf simply answered as he took another deep chug of... whatever it was he was drinking. Elissa decided it was time for her to try this infamous dwarven ale people were always talking about. She slowly lifted the mug towards her mouth, trying to ignore the smell and hoped this wouldn't end up as another Lothering.

* * *

Lyna together with the rest of her group was walking down the same trail they had climbed only hours earlier. The news about Redcliffe had forced them to split up even though they knew how dangerous that would be with Loghain hounding them. Even though she was glad to be gone from the suffocating halls of Orzammar and out beneath the open air again. She was slightly sad with the company with her. Alistair was in a similar mood that he had been in after Ostagar, Morrigan was difficult to approach at all and Sten was... Sten. She sighed as she kept glancing up towards the stars, the sight of them had always managed to sooth her when she was feeling down.

"We wasted valuable time coming here." Sten stated as a fact. Acting like they should've been able to know that this Arl of Redcliffe would fall ill.

"Yes we did." Alistair agreed with a low tone.

"'Tis so nice to see that you've found a friend to be grumpy with, Alistair." Morrigan said in a mocking voice, hoping that Alistair would bite.

"What? Jealous because you can't make any?"

"I can be friendly when I desire to." She just smiled back.

"Correction, you can be friendly when it benefits you."

"Are you saying people are friendly for any other reason?"

"Why am I not surprised to find out that you've never had a real friend?" Alistair sighed while speeding up a bit to get away from Morrigans side.

"Can we please save the fighting for the darkspawn?" Lyna more demanded than asked. An approving grunt could be heard from Sten.

"I'm actually looking forward to putting a blade through Loghain's gut more than darkspawn at this point." Alistair grumbled before they all fell into silence once again. Minutes turned into hours before they found the same place they had set camp last night where they now stopped again. A sort of wasted day, although Lyna guessed that having seen Orzammar at least once in her life was sort of cool. Still, she had no desire to return there anytime soon. They once again set up their tents and prepared the campfire, Morrigan still refusing to set up her tent anywhere near the rest of the group. "If we keep a good pace we can be in Redcliffe in two days time." Alistair suddenly spoke up as they were eating their... 'dinner'? He sounded eager to break the silence and tension. Lyna decided that the silence had been present for too long and decided to join in.

"Question is what we do once we get there? If this Arl is ill then what are we supposed to do?"

"Hopefully, they have already contacted the circle tower who has sent healers to him." Alistair said with a confident voice. Lyna was still sceptical.

"I have a feeling it won't end up being that easy." She said which earned a glare from the human.

"First Elissa and now you? Do the two of you have something against Arl Eamon?"

"I couldn't even remember the man's name. All I'm saying is that if he's not on Loghain's side then the cause of his illness..."

"You believe Loghain is behind this?" Alistair asked.

"Yes."

"What does it matter if this human is sick? If he's incapable of making a decision then the second in command should be able to make one." Sten bluntly said after having just observed the conversation for some time.

"If Arl Eamon is ill as the rumours say then who is in charge of Redcliffe and its forces?" Lyna asked, curious to who the man who they possibly had to talk to was.

"Bann Teagan..." Alistair said while glaring at the qunari. "But that doesn't matter since I refuse to believe that Arl Eamon is beyond saving."

"I take it you and Eamon has some sort of relation? I doubt you would feel this strongly about him being ill just from hearing how good of a man he is?" It was almost like Eamon was family to Alistair from the way he spoke of him.

"It's... It's a long story, ok?" And one that he had no desire to share this evening it seemed. Lyna just silently nodded, understanding that there probably was a reason to why he didn't want to talk about it. "Let's just talk about something else." Fine by Lyna, but what? Morrigan was over by her own tent, Sten was impossible to have a conversation with that didn't involve darkspawn and Alistair was still in his sulking mood. She gave off a deep sigh as she thought back to the people still in Ostagar, they probably had the time of their lives in some inn somewhere right now.

* * *

Daylen slowly opened his eyes, cursing the pounding in his head but also praising the maker that no sun would be able to intensify the pain. A quick spell fixed most of the headache as he found enough strength to get out of the almost stone-hard bed.

"Mind throwing one of those on me as well?" A grumbling voice from the other side of the room said. Looking over towards the source Daylen couldn't help but grin. On the other bed in the room he could see Marcus laying face-down in the pillow, hands over his head as he was definitely going through the same thing as Daylen had only moments ago. Walking over with heavy steps he quickly cast the same spell on his friend.

"I thought you could handle this stuff?" Daylen asked with a smirk. With the spell in effect Marcus seemed to find the strength to look over towards the mage. The state his hair and face was in was price less and Daylen wished a painter could save this moment for future generations.

"I don't think anyone can handle this 'stuff'." He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his chin while saying something that Daylen assumed was different swear words in Ander. "At least I held out longer than the rest of you." Daylen thought back to what little he remembered last night. Elissa had been the first to fall victim to the drinks effects. After that... he couldn't really recall much more after that.

"What happened after Elissa claimed to have seen a griffin once when she was young?" That story had been entertaining.

"You challenged Oghren to a drinking contest." Marcus didn't have to say any more than that. Daylen could guess how that had ended.

"Right, and after that?"

"The rest of us had a drawn-out conversation about who... who could 'wrangle the most nugs'... I now realise why Oghren was laughing as much as he was during that time." Marcus sighed as he planted his face in his hands as his elbows was resting on his legs.

"That sounds dirty." Daylen commented.

"I now realise it was."

"And nothing of importance happened I'm hoping?"

"Elissa passed out, Leliana brought her to their room and I brought you to our room."

"Good memory, did you actually have any of that dwarven drink?"

"Years of practice." Marcus answered as he stood up. "Let's head down, I find it difficult to keep track of time but I'm starving so it's either late morning or early lunch."

"Both of those are good excuses to have something to eat." Daylen said smiling as he followed the other man down towards the inn. As they entered the now almost empty inn they could easily spot the two human females who was sitting in a dark corner of the room. The red-headed one eating something while the golden-brown headed one simply stared at her food with her hands on her head. Clearly having the same problem he and Marcus had earlier. "Good morning, ladies!" Daylen said with a raised voice which caused the still hungover one to flinch. How could Leliana handle this so well? Did they drink that much wine in the chantry?

"Go throw yourself in the pool of lava, Daylen." Elissa mumbled. Without another word Daylen put his hands over her head and used the spell he thought was his most handy spell. Elissa gave him a grateful nod and could finally start eating. The barmaid came up to them as they sat down together with the two women and they quickly made their orders.

"We have to meet Oghren outside the proving in a few hours." Leliana said as she finished her food. Daylen wondered if she had forced herself through it or if it had actually tasted good.

"Why?" Elissa asked, this clearly being news to her.

"Well... We agreed last night that we would enter the proving in Harrowmont's name, didn't we?" The other three just looked at each other, shrugging in a 'good enough' kind of way.

"How did we decide who to support?" Daylen asked.

"You seriously don't remember?" Leliana asked, clearly surprised that she was the only one to completely be able to recall what happened last night. "We decided it with a coin toss." The group just stared in disbelief at the Orlesian woman. Had they maybe just decided who the future king would be through a coin toss? "Oghren had said that it was better than the current system they had for deciding kings." Elissa groaned from where she sat.

"Oh well, I'm guessing we had a deep and meaningful discussion about it before we decided it." Leliana looked like she was about to correct her but Elissa ignored her and continued. "Anyway, anything else that happened last night that I should know about? I didn't make any more enemies again, did I?" Daylen and Marcus just chuckled as Leliana shook her head with a confused look.

"There was a bit of flirting going on but other than that and the coin toss, nothing special." Daylen froze up. Who had done what with who? He had passed out early from what Marcus had told him, so that only left the other Wardens, the Orlesian and the dwarf.

"What?" Was all Elissa managed to get out.

"Please tell me it was Marcus flirting with Oghren." Daylen told Leliana which caused Marcus eyes darting towards the woman, demanding a quick answer. A mischievous grin suddenly spread across her face.

"Oh I don't know, maybe I'll tell you later." Daylen wasn't too worried but the same couldn't be said about Marcus and Elissa. For all they knew they could've been flirting with a dwarf the previous night. The food arrived and the rest of the morning/lunch was spent with Marcus and Elissa trying to force the answer out of Leliana. Daylen was kind of sad that their group had split up but was happy that he had ended up on this side of it. Poor Lyna had to travel by herself together with the three, at the moment, most unapproachable people in their group. Although, Daylen wouldn't have minded Morrigan being here.

* * *

"You runts are late." Oghren said as he met the group outside the doors to the proving.

"Runts?" Daylen asked, figuring the dwarf had better names for them than that.

"Aye, runts. The lot of ya. Except the fiery red-hair. Heh, you could probably drink with the best of the drunks down in the tapster's.

"... Thanks?" Leliana seemed to be uncertain if that was a compliment or not.

"Anyway." Daylen waved Oghren off. "We have more important things to do now."

"Yes. We should head insi-" Elissa quickly got cut off as Daylen continued.

"Who was flirting with you last night?" He asked the dwarf which certainly caught him by surprise.

"Eh? Did that ale get to your head and stayed there or something?" Oghren muttered.

"Probably, but answer me already. I need to know." Marcus had to admit that he wasn't too worried. He was pretty certain he didn't have a thing for dwarves, no matter how drunk he got. He also couldn't recall himself flirting last night so that only really left Elissa getting to drunk and throwing a couple of winks towards either Leliana or Oghren. Oghren would be disgusting while Leliana would be interesting.

"Huh, that was flirting you were up to last night?" The dwarf asked as he looked towards the whole group making it impossible to know who were involved in it.

"Yes, that's what Leliana says. So who was it?" Daylen urged on, hoping to get an answer.

"Is it really that important? We have a proving to go through." Elissa suddenly spoke up, looking uncomfortable.

"The proving can wait!" Daylen argued, looking like her being uncomfortable only made it so much more fun.

"None of you remember except red-hair here?" Oghren asked while nodding towards Leliana. While they all nodded he simply let out a deep laugh. "Heh, well. Think I'll keep it that way for now. More entertaining that way." Daylen looked destroyed but Marcus, like Elissa was a bit relieved. Although minimal, there was still a chance that he had flirted with the dwarf and if Daylen found out about something like that he would never hear the end of it.

"Good, then we can get on with the whole 'saving Ferelden'-thing which we are quite busy with these days." Elissa said with a relieved sigh as they entered through the giant doors that lead to the proving. Daylen kept pestering Oghren but he wasn't giving him even the slightest of hints. They walked up to the dwarf who seemed to be in charge of this place and he looked surprised to say the least upon seeing four humans walking up to him.

"Orzammar open to just about anyone these days? I thought with King Endrins death we would shut out the rest of Thedas completely?"

"Wardens." Elissa calmly responded.

"Ah, of course. I'm the proving master and the reason you've got Oghren with you is because you're here to finally drag him out of Orzammar I'm hoping?" They all threw a questioning glance towards the dwarf in question but he simply chuckled and shrugged it off.

"Might have hit someone a bit too hard in the provings once." He said with that deep chuckling Marcus had started to find soothing. Sort of reminded him of home. A home which is impossible to return to, he reminded himself.

"A 'bit' too hard?" Leliana asked.

"Heh, that's what she said." He answered as he started laughing uncontrollably while taking out a pouch containing... something and taking a swig of it. Elissa and Leliana rolled their eyes while Daylen managed to hold back his own laughter. The provings dwarf simply looked at the group with a lost expression.

"Anyway. You're here to watch the battles, Wardens?"

"We were actually hoping to participate." Marcus corrected.

"Really?... I must admit I was not expecting that." He said as he began stroking his beard. Marcus was slightly jealous at the man's beard when he compared it to his own stubble. Maybe he should start saving?

"Is it no good?" Elissa asked.

"No, I think it's a great idea! You Wardens have always and will always be respected here in Orzammar. We would be honored to have you enter the provings." He said as he began writing something down on a piece of paper. "Now, which three of you will it be?" Elissa looked at Marcus with a questioning look to which he simply shrugged.

"Only three of us can enter?" Daylen asked.

"Aye, It's usually a minor lord together with his second and most skillful guard. I'm guessing none of you are anyone's second so it doesn't matter who you choose as long as there's only three of you. Even though I hate to admit it, Oghren is also free to enter a he's still technically warrior caste." He seemed to add that last bit with some reluctance. Elissa nodded and motioned for the others to group up.

"I'm out!" Daylen quickly said as they formed a circle. Elissa raised an eyebrow towards him. "Dwarves are resistant to magic anyway."

"Hmm, true. And I think Oghren should be one of the three, considering he's the only one that has done it before."

"And done it good, you might wanna add." The dwarf chuckled.

"I want Marcus in there as well." Elissa continued, Marcus gave her a nod.

"Heh, I bet you do."

"With Leliana not being a Warden I don't wanna risk us getting thrown out or anything. So I'll be our ranged, watching your backs from behind."

"Heh, I don't mind you doing more than ju-"

"Oghren, so help me I will put something in your drink if you don't stop it."

"Oh I bet you will. Heheh, _saucy_."

"Not even sure what you're implying with that, dwarf." Daylen said with a look of both amusement and disgust. Marcus looked at some of the, more than usual, armed dwarves walking around. He guessed that those might be some of the opponents they would be facing. He had obviously heard the tales of how good the dwarves were in battles but he honestly couldn't see that being the case. They lacked the reach and mobility, maybe they made up for it in other areas but he doubted it.

"Let's sign up and get this over with. The sooner we turn Lord Harrowmont into King Harrowmont the better." Elissa sighed as they went back to the proving master.


End file.
